Lantingji Xu (Orchid Pavilion Preface)

The Lantingji Xu, or Orchid Pavilion Preface, is a work of running-script calligraphy written by Wang Xizhi in the spring of 353 as a preface to poems composed at a gathering of family and friends at his Orchid Pavilion for the Spring Purification Festival. Wang wrote it with a weasel-whisker brush on cocoon paper; it became one of the most famous and influential calligraphies in Chinese history, revered as the finest example of running script, though Wang's original was reportedly buried in the tomb of the Tang dynasty emperor Taizong and only later reproductions survive.