Islamic art
Calligraphic design is omnipresent in Islamic art, where, as in Europe in the Middle Ages, religious exhortations, including Qur'anic verses, may be included in secular objects, especially coins, tiles and metalwork, and most painted miniatures include some script, as do many buildings. Use of Islamic calligraphy in architecture extended significantly outside of Islamic territories; one notable example is the use of Chinese calligraphy of Arabic verses from the Qur'an in the Great Mosque of Xi'an. Other inscriptions include verses of poetry, and inscriptions recording ownership or donation. Two of the main scripts involved are the symbolic "kufic" and "naskh" scripts, which can be found adorning and enhancing the visual appeal of the walls and domes of buildings, the sides of minbars, and metalwork. Islamic calligraphy in the form of painting or sculptures are sometimes referred to as "quranic art".
Wang Xizhi
In addition to the esteem in which he is held in China, he has been and remains influential in Japanese calligraphy.
Born in Linyi, Shandong, Wang spent most of his life in present-day Shaoxing, Zhejiang and Wenzhou. He learned the art of calligraphy from Lady Wei Shuo. He excelled in every script but particularly in semi-cursive script. His representative works include, in chronological order, "Narration on Yue Yi " (), "The Yellow Court Classic" (), "Commentaries on the Portrait of Dongfang Shuo" (), "Admonitions to the Emperor from the Imperial Mentor" (), "Preface to the Collection of Poems Composed at the Orchid Pavilion" (, also commonly known as "Lanting Xu" ), and "The Statement of Pledge "《告誓文》. Unfortunately, none of his original works remains today.