Chinese Daoist Temple Scroll - Realm of the Dead

White hair, a tall red hat, and the last word on your life.

This Daoist temple scroll of the Realm of the Dead comes from China and dates to the 18th century, ink on paper. Scenes of the underworld courts were painted for temples so that worshippers could see plainly how deeds were weighed, and they were hung during rites offered on behalf of the dead. An old judge writes at a long desk, with clerks and guards pressed close. Four haloed figures watch from the clouds. A scroll unfurls toward a brick gatehouse marked with a blue eye at lower right, while flames lick up in the opposite corner. Seventy-seven and a half inches high, 27.6 wide.

Bring character references.