Relief of the Seventh King of Hell, Gongyi

The stone relief shows a central male figure wearing a tall, tiered crown and traditional robes, seated behind a desk in a gesture of authority. To his right, an attendant holds a long, flat ritual paddle or fan, while another figure bows deeply to the left, offering a bundle. The scene is set under a carved canopy with drapery motifs, typical of funerary steles. The carving style is shallow and linear, focusing on the frontal, hieratic poses of the figures.

This artwork is part of the Gongyi grottoes or funerary tradition, representing the 'Ten Rulers of Hell,' a syncretic development in Chinese Buddhism blending indigenous afterlife beliefs with the Indian concept of Yama. It reflects the Song Dynasty preoccupation with the bureaucratic organization of the underworld, which functioned as a moral mirror for social order in the living world.