Which Tang dynasty calligrapher is famous for his 'Yan style' of regular script?

The Tang dynasty calligrapher famous for the “Yan style” of regular script is Yan Zhenqing. Born in 709 and killed in 784, he was not only a leading calligrapher but also a military general and government official.

Yan style, or Yanti, is his distinctive form of kaishu, the regular script. It is recognized for powerful, upright, muscular characters, firm structure, and bold brushwork. Compared with the elegant, slender appearance associated with some earlier Tang masters, Yan’s writing often appears broader, more substantial, and more forceful. His approach also drew on older seal-script and clerical-script techniques.

Yan’s reputation grew well beyond his own lifetime. Song dynasty masters including Su Shi, Huang Tingjian, Mi Fu, and Cai Xiang studied or admired his style. His influence also reached later Chinese calligraphers and practitioners in Korea, Japan, and Southeast Asia. Students still frequently copy Yan-style models when learning regular script.

Yan Zhenqing is sometimes confused with Liu Gongquan, another great Tang regular-script master. Liu’s style is known as Liu style; both are important, but “Yan style” specifically identifies Yan Zhenqing’s calligraphic tradition.