With its large palette of ink strokes, thickness of lines, and large empty spaces, ink wash painting focused on catching the "spirit" or the "essence" of the portrayed object, rather than its exact form. The literati were very often traditional scholars and alongside their painting skills, they also learned extensively about poetry, music and musical instruments, calligraphy, strategy games, and seal art. Thus, for them ink wash painting was more than just a painting form. It was in a way a form of a philosophy, of spirituality; it was an artistic era in which the artist was showing his admiration and modest understanding of the universe...