Descent of Deities to Earth

Borne by clouds that move precipitously from right to left, a host of deities descends from the heavens. Five Buddhas lead the procession, their silken patchwork robes hanging loosely about their bodies. These are followed by seven itinerant monks, identified by the umbrellas that rise from their backpacks to shield their heads as they travel from place to place. The rest of the procession comprises an assembly of more than forty Buddhas who ride amidst the clouds, their sacred presence indicated by circular haloes of gold pigment.

Originally considered a Korean work of the Goryeo dynasty, this painting was reattributed in the early 2000s by specialists of Korean and Chinese painting to the Southern Song dynasty of China. The earliest extant painting made for the water-land ritual (shuilu fahui 水陸法會), a grand Buddhist liturgy that has been performed in Buddhist East Asia for more than 800 years. In the course of the ceremony, which spans seven days, all beings of the realms of water and land are summoned into a ritual arena by liturgical masters, where they are feted by the assembled monks and congregation in an elaborate prayer for the souls of the recently deceased. Beginning in the twelfth century, it became common to depict in painting all those beings—Buddhist and non-Buddhist—who were to be summoned into the ritual arena, so a number of paintings survive from water-land ritual sets. This rare example, the earliest known of such paintings, is of unique importance to the study of Chinese Buddhism generally and the water-land ritual in particular.