940 - A Japanese Imari figure, Edo period, 18th century, modelled with the young hero Benkei capturing a huge leaping carp emerging from spuming waves, decorated in iron-red, green, aubergine and black enamels, and two Kutani koro, early 20th century, of rectangular or globular form, painted in iron-red with crane roundels or foliage (8 to 21cm high) (5) Provenance: The Private Collection of Michael George Kuczynski (1941-2025), Cambridgeshire. Footnote: The figure group depicts a scene from 12th-century Japanese folklore where the hero Benkei fought with a giant monster carp that had killed his mother. Benkei, also known as Oniwaka Maru in his youth, was a famed warrior best remembered for serving as a loyal bodyguard to the legendary general Minamoto no Yoshitsune in Kyoto.