A gilt-bronze okimono of Benkei holding aloft a Koro (incense burner) and cover


By Miyao Eisuke of Yokohama, Meiji era (1868-1912), late 19th/early 20th centuryConstructed in two detachable sections, the legendary strongman seated cross-legged wearing a gilt-accented armour breast plate and brocade-patterned garments decorated with phoenix crests and large blossoms amid incised scrolling leafy tendrils, holding up with both hands a large tripod censer (detachable) decorated in high relief with a dragon writhing among clouds ornamented around the body, the sides applied with two tall upturned handles in the from of mythological creatures, the en-suite cover partially pierced with a band of gilt-edged petals and surmounted by a shishi playing with a tasseled brocade ball; signed on the reverse of Benkei Miyao seizo within a large gilt square cartouche. The figure: 31cm (12 3/16in) high; the koro: 37cm (14½in) high. (3).