Two Japanese 'boy and carp' vases

Reference: ART200964

A pair of leaping carp with open mouths, gripped by a man wearing a loincloth, the curling tails resting on a hollow base modelled with foaming waves. Decorated in underglaze blue, iron-red, green and gold. The scene depicts the story of the 12th-century hero Benkei (also named Onikawa Maru in his youth), famous for his supernatural strength, who fought a gigantic carp that had devoured his mother. Benkei is more famous as the combatant of Yoshitsune of the Minomoto clan on the Gojo Bridge in Kyoto.