The Fourth King of Hell (late 1300s): Art, History and Details

The Fourth King of Hell (late 1300s) is in the Cleveland Museum of Art collection.

The work and its context

The museum's open-access catalogue describes the work:

Originally part of a set of ten, this hanging scroll depicts the Fourth King of Hell. Accompanied by his secretary, the king with bulging eyes is seated at the center, overseeing how well his verdict is being conducted. On the bottom, sinners are suffering in a giant cauldron filled with boiling water, constantly pierced by a guard’s burning spears. Ready-made Buddhist paintings from China, created in professional workshops in the port city of Ningbo, are believed to one of the important inspirations for this hell scene.

Object facts

• Title: The Fourth King of Hell
• Date: late 1300s
• Culture: Korea, Goryeo dynasty (918–1392)
• Type: Painting
• Technique: Hanging scroll; ink, color, and gold ink on silk
• Dimensions: Image: 63 x 45.3 cm (24 13/16 x 17 13/16 in.); Overall: 136.2 x 58.9 cm (53 5/8 x 23 3/16 in.)
• Collection: ASIAN - Hanging scroll
• Department: Korean Art
• Accession number: 2019.224

A detail from the museum

As the concept of salvation became increasingly more emphasized in Buddhist schools in medieval East Asia, the gruesome depiction of various hells was given an important role: to promote Buddhist ethics. In the Buddhist infernal otherworld, the Ten Kings of Hell serve as judges of the deceased to determine their fates, including the type and severity of punishment.

Collection credit

Leonard C. Hanna Jr. Fund and museum purchase from various donors by exchange and Partial Gift of The Honorable Joseph P. Carroll and Roberta Carroll, M.D.

Further reading listed by the museum

• The First King of Hell from the same set is in the collection of Harvard Art Museums.
• Mizuno Keizaburo. "Juo-zu." Kokka 829 (April, 1961).
• Chee-yun Kwon. "The Ten Kings from the Former Packard Collection. Oriental Art 55, No. 2 (2005): 28–36.

View the collection record

See the museum's photographs and full catalogue entry. Catalogue text is reproduced from the Cleveland Museum of Art's open-access data, with HTML formatting removed. This object and its supplied image are designated CC0.