Ink-bamboo

Refers to a style of literati painting that emphasized a distinctive relationship between ink as medium and bamboo as subject; the works also included calligraphy. The works are typically monochrome or subtly colored, deliberately emphasizing the brushwork required to create the stalks and leaves of bamboo, positioned near the brushwork of the calligraphy. Bamboo was symbolic in Chinese culture for moral integrity, purity, and the ability to withstand adversity, qualities with which the literati identified themselves.