Chinese Scroll Depicting Scenes From Hell: Unframed

Two judges, one wheel, and no appeals process.

This scroll depicting scenes from hell comes from China and dates to the 19th century, ink on paper, unframed. In Chinese religious practice, such paintings of the courts of hell were displayed at funeral and memorial rites, when families prayed for the dead to pass through judgment safely. Two robed judges sit at opposing desks beneath green and red architecture. A procession of figures fills the courtyard below. A great wheel turns at the lower right, and a coil of white rises beside a swollen form crowded with small animals and people. Thirty-four inches wide and 83 high.

The paperwork, it seems, continues after death.