Gujin shupin 古今書評

Gujin shuping 古今書評 is an essay on calligraphy written during the Liang period 梁 (502-557) by Yuan Ang 袁昂 (461-540), courtesy name Qianli 千里, from Yangxia 陽夏 in the commandery Chenjun 陳郡 (today's Xiangcheng 項城, Henan). He was Minister of Personnel (libu shangshu 吏部尚書, later Director of the Imperial Secretariat (shangshu ling 尚書令), and obtained the ancient honorary title of Minister of Works (sikong 司空). His posthumous title was Master Muzheng 穆正公.

The essay was written on imperial order and discusses the artworks of 25 famous calligraphers from the Han period onwards. Yuan praises the outstanding skills of Zhang Zhi 張芝 (d. 192 CE), Zhong Yao 鍾繇 (151-230 CE), Wang Xizhi 王羲之 (303-361) and Wang Xianzhi 王獻之 (344-386) and thus influenced the historical conscience about the status of these four great masters.

The text is quoted in the books Fashu yaolu 法書要錄 and Shuyuan jinghua 書苑菁華.