Epitaph for the Retired Scholar Zhiting

Calligraphy served many purposes in Chinese elite culture; to name a few of them, it was used for artistic expression, moral and philosophical statements, personal letters and other correspondence, complements to poetry, inscriptions on paintings, and epitaphs and memorials. Different types of script were considered appropriate for different purposes; formal scripts were expected for epitaphs.

This long handscroll memorializes the life and lineage of an otherwise relatively unknown recluse and scholar named Zhiting (1301–1355). The calligrapher, Yang Weizhen, a minor official in the Yuan government, was famous for his cursive calligraphy. For this epitaph he employed a formal script. While the characters flow together and there is considerable spontaneity in the brushwork, the characters are still legible and regular in size. Noted calligraphers like Yang often supplemented their incomes during difficult times by writing such epitaphs.