The Cleveland Museum of Art

Collection Online as of December 13, 2025

Album of Daoist and Buddhist Themes: Kings of Hells: Leaf 29

1200s

China, Southern Song dynasty

(1127-1279)
Album, ink on paper
Painting: 34 x 38.4 cm (13 3/8 x 15 1/8 in.)
John L. Severance Fund in honor of Dr. Ju-hsi Chou and Gift of various donors to the department of Asian Art (by exchange) 2004.1.29
Location: Not on view

Did You Know?

This King of Hell wears a hat with two slender side arms—similar to the headgear worn by Song dynasty emperors.

Description

This leaf belongs to the album’s second series of narratives, Ten Kings of Hells. It demonstrates a Chinese-Buddhist approach in which the netherworld is divided into ten realms, each ruled by one of these kings. This particular version portrays the king in a benevolent guise, though his identity remains unclear. He is draped in a robe and holds an ivory plaque. A vertical scroll hangs to his left, depicting in the lower two-thirds a rectangular architectural plan with buildings aligned in a symmetrical arrangement not unlike a Buddhist temple or a Confucian shrine. Above, the scene also features a building and could show a specific mountain. One of the Ten Kings is known as the King of Taishan (or Mt. Tai). This depiction would represent a unique treatment of the king, not shared with other renditions of the same figure elsewhere.
  • Wang Hui 王翬 [1632–1717]
    Li Jiale 李嘉樂 [jinshi of 1863]
    Zhu Hang 朱沆 [active 19th century]
    1910–?
    Dr. F. R. (Fredrik Robert) Martin [1868–1933], Stockholm, Sweden, and Munich, Germany
    ?–1947
    Mrs. L. M. Morris [20th century], England
    March 25, 1947
    (Sotheby's, London, sale, 25 March 1947, lot 118, sold to Stephen Junkunc III)
    1947–78
    István “Stephen" Junkunc III [1904–1978], by descent to his son Stephen Junkunc IV
    1978–2004
    (Stephen Junkunc IV [b. 1937], Miami, FL, sold to the Cleveland Museum of Art)
    2004–
    The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH
  • Martin, F. R.. Zeichnungen nach Wu tao-tze aus der götter- und sagenwelt Chinas. München: F. Bruckmann a.g, 1913.
    Christie, Manson & Woods International Inc. Fine Chinese Ceramics, Paintings and Works of Art. 21 September 2000. Lot 204. Reproduced: pp. 141-46
    Chou, Ju-hsi and Anita Chung. Silent poetry: Chinese paintings from the collection of the Cleveland Museum of Art. Cleveland, OH: The Cleveland Museum of Art, 2015. Reproduced: pp. 174-195
  • Recent Acquisitions. The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH (May 13–June 28, 2004).
  • {{cite web|title=Album of Daoist and Buddhist Themes: Kings of Hells: Leaf 29|url=false|author=|year=1200s|access-date=13 December 2025|publisher=Cleveland Museum of Art}}

Source URL:

https://www.clevelandart.org/art/2004.1.29