Two Scrolls Depicting the Buddhist Version of Hell

(n. p.): (n. d.), circa early 20th century. Approx. 72 x 36 inches (image size 59 x 30 inches); approx. 64 x 31 inches (image size 49 x 26-1/2 inches). Both scrolls affixed to wooden rods, with burlap cords at the top for hanging and burlap/fabric reinforcement to sides and some parts of the verso. General wear and creasing; heavy crease, archivally repaired on verso to second scroll; large chip missing from image portion of second scroll; some additional neat repairs to verso. Good overall. Two paintings depicting the judgment of souls in Buddhist Hell, by members of a spiritual hierarchy mirroring the bureaucracy of earthly courts.These paintings would be displayed for an audience to see while a speaker delivered a sermon on the sins and the punishments they portrayed. Undated, but probably late Qing or Republican era. One painting, marked on the outside “Er dian” (Second Hall), depicts the Second Hall in Hell, the Hall of King Chujiang. The painting depicts Chujiang judging a woman lying prostrate before him; she is labeled as having been unfilial to her parents. In the background, a man labeled as having been guilty of harming others through his greed is about to be devoured by a tiger. Below, a figure labeled the Dragon King of the Eastern Sea looks on as demons torture other people for various crimes. The other painting depicts the first, second, and third Halls, presided over by kings Qinguang, Chujiang, and Songdi. An attendant holds up a scroll which reads “Clearly distinguish between good and evil.” At the bottom, figures cross a bridge over the Naihe River, but are cast into its waters of oblivion by demons. Elsewhere, souls are being tortured for the crimes of unfilial conduct and using unfair measures in commerce. On the left side of the image is a building where human forms are exchanged for those of animals, in punishment for various sins: depicted are a cow with a human face, as well as a pig and an uncertain animal.