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Wikimedia Commons · Public domain · Hover to magnify, click for fullscreen
Original fileTen Rulers of Hell, Song, Gongyi 02
This is a low-relief stone carving featuring a central, stern-faced male figure wearing a tall, crown-like official headpiece and traditional robes. He sits behind a rectangular desk, gesturing with his right hand as if presiding over a judgment. He is surrounded by four attendants: one to his left holding a fan, one to his right holding a scroll or tablet, and two others standing slightly behind. The figures are framed within an architectural niche carved to resemble a curtained canopy, common in Buddhist funerary art of the period.
This stele represents the Ten Kings of Hell, a central iconographic motif in Chinese Buddhism reflecting the syncretism of Buddhist concepts of karma and rebirth with Chinese judicial bureaucracy. The Ten Kings serve as judges in the underworld, and such steles were often commissioned to accrue merit for the deceased during funerary rites.
龍主昌温四年造
Translation
Made in the fourth year of the Longzhu Changwen reign.
Scripture of the Ten Kings
This text provides the foundational narrative and iconographic descriptions for the underworld bureaucracy depicted in this relief.
Object
relief carving
stone
Song dynasty
Chinese
religious
Digital Source
Wikimedia Commons · Public domain
5184 × 3456 px
Linked Data
AI AI-cataloged fields generated by gemini-3.1-flash-lite-preview on April 20, 2026. Getty identifiers are AI-inferred and may require verification.