Album of Daoist and Buddhist Themes: Kings of Hells: Leaf 29, 1200, Cleveland Museum of Art: Chinese
Album of Daoist and Buddhist Themes: Kings of Hells: Leaf 29, 1200, Cleveland Museum of Art: Chinese ArtThis 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 holds an ivory plaque, is draped in a robe, and wears a hat that sports two slender side arms—similar to the headgear worn by Song dynasty emperors. 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.Size: Sheet: 34.2 x 38.3 cm (13 7/16 x 15 1/16 in.)Medium: Album, ink on paperhttps://clevelandart.org/art/2004.1.29 -- source link
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