Dongba Illustration from the Naxi People

Qing dynasty (1644�1911) or Republican period (1912�1949), undated, 1930s or earlier

Illustration of the Spirit Way

Vertical handscroll, color and white pigment on paper; approx. 1,125.0 x 30.0 cm

Inventory number: 111 bao-3

The Naxi people believe that their dead proceed automatically and directly to hell.� The souls of the deceased must therefore be led back out from the infernal depths toward heaven by the dongba or ritual specialists during the performance of elaborate funerary rites; pictorial illustrations are an integral part of these rituals.� Pictures known as shenlu tu ("illustrations of the spirit way" or "illustrations of the spirit road") are a visualization of this process and reflect both ancestral Naxi and Tibetan Buddhist notions of life and death.� Vertically oriented and extending between 15 and 20 meters in length, they are mostly drawn on locally produced linen or other cloths treated with a paste of white powder; a smaller number are executed on paper.� These illustrations are composed of more than 100 individual and contiguous sections, which are divided among three major narrative structures: the 33 strata of spirit lands, human figures dwelling on earth, and 18 demonic lands.� Hell is always shown in the lowermost sections, the human realm in the middle segments, and heaven in the topmost; the entire imagined sequence that must be traversed by the deceased is replicated.

This scroll was executed with bright mineral pigments on paper and features some 360 gods, figures, and demons and 70 to 80 kinds of fabulous winged creatures and beasts.� Its contents are complex yet organized, the linework employed simple and bold but executed with flair and fluidity, and though somewhat na�ve in appearance, it captures the spirit of a unique culture.