Met Museum Returns Buddhist Painting Taken During Korean War

""The Tenth King of Hell " (1798), an ink painting on silk scroll, will go home to the Sinheungsa Temple in Sokcho, South Korea. In The Met's collection since the museum purchased it in 2007, it was included in its 2008 Arts of Korea exhibitionand its Korean Art exhibition in 2012. To mark its return, the institution held a ceremony in Seoul on Friday, November 14, attended by Met Director Max Hollein, the mayor of Sokcho, and Chief Monk Ji-hye of the Sinheungsa Temple."

"The work is from a 10-painting series portraying the Buddhist Ten Kings of Hell, who determine the fate of the deceased, including punishment and the cycle of rebirth, according to the faith tradition. This particular scroll depicts the Tenth King, dressed as a warrior and surrounded by underworld attendants. The Los Angeles County Museum of Art previously returned six scrolls from the series to the temple, according to a press release from The Met."

"The Met returned "Vessel Stand with Ibex," dated to 2500 BCE, to Iraq in September. In a research project supported by the nation, The Met uncovered evidence that the ibex figure in the work was one of the oldest examples of the use of clay in the direct lost-wax casting technique, which is still used to create large metal sculptures today."

The Metropolitan Museum of Art returned a 16th-century ink-on-silk Buddhist painting titled "The Tenth King of Hell" (1798) to Sinheungsa Temple in Sokcho, South Korea. The painting had been in The Met's collection since a 2007 purchase and featured in the museum's 2008 Arts of Korea and 2012 Korean Art exhibitions. The work is believed to have been removed from the temple by the United States Army during the Korean War. The return was marked by a November 14 ceremony in Seoul attended by Max Hollein, the mayor of Sokcho, and Chief Monk Ji-hye. The scroll belongs to a 10-painting series depicting the Buddhist Ten Kings of Hell and shows the Tenth King as a warrior surrounded by underworld attendants. The repatriation followed 2023 provenance reviews and other recent returns to Iraq, Italy, Spain, and earlier scroll returns by the Los Angeles County Museum of Art.

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