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303–361 · Artists · Writers
Wang Xizhi signature
Chinese calligrapher of the Eastern Jin dynasty, traditionally 303–361
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Who Wang Xizhi was
Wang Xizhi lived in the fourth century, under the Eastern Jin dynasty. His traditional dates are 303 to 361, though other dates have been proposed. An official from one of the great families of the age, he is remembered as the Sage of Calligraphy (書聖), the model for Chinese writing in running and cursive script for some sixteen centuries.
His fame comes with a paradox: not a single work in his own hand is known to survive. Everything we see today is a copy.
The story of the signature
His best-known work is the Preface to the Orchid Pavilion Poems (Lantingji Xu, 蘭亭集序), written in 353 for a gathering of scholars who drank wine and composed poems by a stream. Emperor Taizong of the Tang dynasty, a passionate collector, is said to have acquired the original and to have had it buried with him; whatever its fate, it is lost. The version most admired today is a Tang tracing copy attributed to Feng Chengsu, known as the Shenlong copy, in the Palace Museum in Beijing.
Copies were made with great care. Skilled Tang copyists traced the originals outline by outline and filled in the strokes, and other texts were carved in stone or wood so that rubbings could be taken. Through these tracing copies and rubbings, generations of calligraphers learned his hand.
Many of the surviving works are short letters (帖, tie), and they show how he signed. The letter known as Timely Clearing After Snowfall (快雪時晴帖), a Tang copy in the National Palace Museum in Taipei, opens and closes with his name and a formal greeting: “Xizhi bows his head” (羲之頓首). The Qianlong emperor treasured it as one of his “Three Rarities”. Another group of letters, the Sangluan tie, survives as an eighth-century copy in the Japanese imperial collection.
What makes it distinctive
His most admired works are in running script (行書), fluent but still legible, between careful regular script and fast cursive.
Letters begin or end with “Xizhi bows his head”, the name built into a courtesy formula rather than written alone.
In the Orchid Pavilion Preface the character 之 appears many times and is written differently each time.
Every surviving example is a tracing copy or rubbing, so the “signature” we see passed through a copyist’s hand.
How to give your signature a similar feel
- If you write Chinese, draw your name in the Draw tab of the signature generator. Press slowly for the thick parts of a stroke and speed up to let it taper, as a brush does.
- Aim for running script rather than full cursive: connected strokes, but every character still readable.
- For a Latin-letter signature with a calligraphic feel, try Italianno or Alex Brush in the Type tab with a gentle Slant.
- Practise one character many times, the way students copied Wang Xizhi’s 之, and keep the version that flows best.
Where to see the original
These links lead to archives, libraries, museums and Wikimedia Commons.
- Wikimedia Commons: Shenlong copy of the Orchid Pavilion Preface attributed to Feng Chengsu (Palace Museum, Beijing)
- Wikimedia Commons: Timely Clearing After Snowfall, Tang copy (National Palace Museum, Taipei)
- Wikimedia Commons: Sangluan tie, eighth-century copy of letters by Wang Xizhi (Japanese imperial collection)
Questions about Wang Xizhi’s signature
Does any original work by Wang Xizhi survive?
No. His calligraphy is known only through later tracing copies, mostly from the Tang dynasty, and through rubbings of texts carved in stone or wood.
What is the Lantingji Xu?
The Preface to the Orchid Pavilion Poems, written in 353. The original is lost; tradition says it was buried with Emperor Taizong of Tang.
Why is he called the Sage of Calligraphy?
His running and cursive scripts became the classical model that Chinese calligraphers studied and copied for centuries.