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Why did Xia Gui use a brush with a worn tip?

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Pure and Remote View of Streams and Mountains, detail of hand scroll in ink and paper by Xia Gui, early 13th century (Southern Song); in the National Palace Museum, Taipei, Taiwan. — Xia Gui *Pure and Remote View of Streams and Mountains*, detail of hand scroll in ink and paper by Xia Gui, early 13th century (Southern Song); in the National Palace Museum, Taipei, Taiwan.

According to historical accounts of his technique, the Chinese master Xia Gui preferred using a brush with a worn tip to avoid the over-refined, "slick" quality of drawing that characterized the work of many other Southern Song academy artists. By utilizing a worn brush, he was able to achieve a more spontaneous and expressive style that set his work apart from his contemporaries.1