Kinko on Carp

MEIJI TAISHO PERIOD 1892 TO 1912 - OVER 100 YEARS OLD.

A SUPERB Japanese Antique Copper Bronze Censer, a portrayal of Kinko also known in Chinese as Qin Gao (琴高) seated on the Giant Carp reading a scroll. Finely cast with excellent details.

Many Japanese legends were adopted and adapted from Chinese legends.
The Daoist sage Kinko also known as Sennin in Japanese or Sennin Kinko.
The Chinese legend holds that Kinko was an artist whose specialty was painting fish, and he would neither kill nor eat his aquatic friends. To reward his virtue, the "Dragon King" invited Kinko to visit him in his palace in the sea world and sent forth a giant carp to carry him across the water.
On his way back, Sennin Kinko (a "Sennin," is a person who has realized the way of Dao, and can live to be a thousand years old while retaining the appearance of a youth or child) encounters Kannon, the god or goddess of mercy and gives him/her a scroll that illustrates the Buddhist principle of protecting the lives of all living creatures.
This is said to demonstrate the merits of Kinko as he reaches the divine.

Signed: Teiyu within a rectangular cartouche

Excellent condition & patina. No damage, No repairs
Refer Large Images for full details and condition.

NOTE: Colour may vary to actual depending of your viewing platform, laptop, desktop, ipad, phone etc.......

Dimensions about: Length 30cm. Width 17 cm. Height 25.5 cm
Weight about: 2.4 kg
A$650