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Wikimedia Commons · Public domain · Hover to magnify, click for fullscreen
Original fileTen Rulers of Hell, Song, Gongyi 10
This stone relief depicts a central figure, likely a King of Hell, wearing a distinctive crown with pointed crests and formal robes. To the left stands a wide-eyed, grimacing demon holding a club-like weapon, alongside a smaller standing figure in courtly attire. To the right, two additional figures stand with serene expressions, one wearing a cap and robes, the other partially obscured. The entire scene is carved within a shallow architectural arch.
This sculpture belongs to the 'Ten Kings of Hell' iconographic tradition, which synthesizes Buddhist concepts of karma and rebirth with Chinese judicial bureaucracy to map the geography of the afterlife.
施主 左堂
Translation
Donor / Left Hall
Sutra of the Ten Kings
The iconography directly derives from the popularized text describing the judgment of souls in the ten courts of the afterlife.
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.