"Chen Shangxian's Epitaph" was written by Zhang Ding, a member of the Yilang Xingshu Department in the Tang Dynasty, with an excerpt from Xu Hao's book on the right. The epitaph is 72cm high and 70cm wide, with 25 lines of text and 25 characters in the full line. It is in regular script and has borders. It was unearthed in Hongshan Township, Luoyang, Henan Province in the spring of 2003.
The epitaph was written in February of the 24th year of Kaiyuan (736), when Xu Haoshi was only 33 years old. This epitaph is the earliest calligraphy work of Xu Hao discovered so far. From it we can see that Xu Hao adopted the brushwork of King Xizhi of France, Yu Shinan, and Chu Suiliang. The lines of the words are vivid, graceful and gorgeous.
