This is an ink portrait of the famed Chinese demon-hunter Zhong Kui. It was done by the Shunzhi Emperor Fulin in the mid 17th-century, and the fact that a Chinese ruler would find such a hero compelling enough to paint testifies to the importance of Zhong Kui’s legends. In myths stretching back as far as 1,300 years ago, Zhong Kui repeatedly slays demons, frequently forcing them to work for him. In the ninth century, one set of legends has Zhong Kui appear out of nowhere to help the emperor, who had been threatened by a ghost. Zhong Kui tore out the ghost’s eye and ate it. Zhong Kui was supposed to have been quite ugly, and some stories say that his disfigured countenance was to blame for his being passed over for the top scorer in the Chinese state examinations — at least one account has him committing suicide because of this snub. His role in hell was then to quell all demons. For centuries, it became a tradition in China to put a painting of him around one’s home, so that evil forces might be warded off.
