Two Scrolls Depicting the Buddhist Version of Hell

(n. p.): (n. d.), circa early 20th century. Approx. 72 x 36 inches (image size 59 x 30 inches); approx. 64 x 31 inches (image size 49 x 26-1/2 inches). Both scrolls affixed to wooden rods, with burlap cords at the top for hanging and burlap/fabric reinforcement to sides and some parts of the verso. General wear and creasing; heavy crease, archivally repaired on verso to second scroll; large chip missing from image portion of second scroll; some additional neat repairs to verso. Good overall. Two paintings depicting the judgment of souls in Buddhist Hell, by members of a spiritual hierarchy mirroring the bureaucracy of earthly courts.These paintings would be displayed for an audience to see while a speaker delivered a sermon on the sins and the punishments they portrayed. Undated, but probably late Qing or Republican era.  One painting, marked on the outside “Er dian” (Second Hall), depicts the Second Hall in Hell, the Hall of King Chujiang. The painting depicts Chujiang judging a woman