This room once stood between two small courtyard gardens in the family compound of a government official. Only the formal reception hall was more important within the family compound. There, the whole family gathered on special occasions to receive guests or pay respect to their ancestors. This room, on the other hand, was a place for the head of the household to enjoy books, nature, and the arts, alone or with a small group of friends.

Government officials in imperial China were well-rounded scholars. The difficult civil service exam required years of study. Scholars had to master the teachings of Confucius and his followers, the basis of Chinese government for thousands of years. But they also had to be skilled in poetry, calligraphy, and painting. These subjects developed their ability to think carefully and sensitively, important qualities in an able administrator.

The arts remained a passion for many officials. They often retired from government service while still fairly young to devote themselves to reading and writing poetry, playing chess, and practicing music. Such men, known as wen jen ("men of letters") or "literati" in English, were highly respected for their good taste and artistic accomplishments.

The teachings of Confucius described an individual's duties to family and the state. Harmony among individuals would bring harmony in the world. But a real understanding of the world, most Chinese believed, came from the close study of nature.

Although nature seems wild and uncontrollable, it has its own order. Seemingly opposite forces--light and dark, life and death, creation and destruction--are in fact part of a single force, the tao, or "way," of nature. Taoist philosophers teach that an individual must above all understand his place in nature. All actions must follow nature's flow to be right and good.

Some literati scholars went to live alone in the wilderness to study the way of nature. Such hermits were greatly admired. But most literati stayed closer to home. They collected reminders of nature, like rocks, gnarled wood, and patterned stone, to think through the puzzles of nature in elegant comfort.

The "four arts" of the literati scholar were painting, calligraphy, playing the ch'in, or zither, and the game of chess. All these activities sharpened the mind through years of study and practice. When enjoyed in the company of friends with similar interests, they were a focus for meaningful conversation. That companionship gave this room its name, "The Studio of Gratifying Discourse," carved on a plaque on the wall.

Nature was the most common subject of both poetry and painting. If a scholar could not live the life of a hermit alone in the wilderness himself, he could recreate the experience through words and pictures. Looking at a famous painting would inspire a poem in response, which he might add to the picture in his own calligraphy.

The tools of Chinese painting and calligraphy—the brush, ink, water, and paper—are very difficult to control. The most skilled painters are able to harness accidental effects to express their own ideas, all within the format of age-old Chinese traditions. This balance of natural forces, self-control, and society perfectly echoes the scholar's sense of his own place in the world.