Yan Zhenqing
The calligraphy style of this inscription is notably different from Empress Yang's calligraphy in an earlier painting, "Apricot Blossoms". While the former can be characterized as smooth and bold, the later seems more slender and restrained. It is deduced that in "Layer", she was perhaps mimicking the calligraphy style of Yan Zhenqing, a renowned calligrapher of Tang Dynasty. The calligraphy of "Layer" borrowed the proportion of Yan's characters, as each stroke was distributed evenly. The details of the brushwork—such as the heavy and tapered vertical strokes, and the “swallowtail” notch at the end of the right-falling strokes—demonstrated her deep learning of the calligraphy style of the Tang Dynasty. The employment of this "masculine" style of writing perhaps also reflects Empress Yang's own political ambition in the Song court.