Ten Kings of Hell
Jin Chushi Chinese
Not on view
This scroll is part of a set illustrating the Ten Kings of Hell. The theme transforms the Indian Buddhist view of judgment after death into a Chinese bureaucratic process. Before their souls can move on to the next life, the recently deceased are tried by a different king each week for seven weeks; it is sent to the eighth king on the hundredth day, to the ninth after a year, and to the tenth the third year after death. Each painting in this set shows a king—assisted by a scribe and other officials—examining and passing sentence on the souls of the dead. The foregrounds describe the types of violent punishments that might be expected in these treacherous realms. Many Buddhist paintings were created by professional artists working in Ningbo in China’s Zhejiang Province, an important port city for merchants and pilgrims traveling from Japan, where many such works are still preserved.
On view for rotation 3.
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