Lot 690. A powder-blue and copper-red 'Dragon' dish,  Qing dynasty, Kangxi period (1662-1722). Estimate 7,000 — 9,000 USD. Lot sold 11,250 USD. Photo: Sotheby's.  

the shallow rounded sides continuing to a broad flat rim, the interior with a four-clawed dragon striding in pursuit of a 'flaming pearl' painted in a grayish tone of copper-red, all on a finely mottled cobalt blue ground, the base with an apocryphal Chenghua mark. Diameter 10 3/4  in., 27.3 cm 

Provenance: Berwald Oriental Art, London, circa 2000.

Note: Among the many technical achievements of the Kangxi period was the reintroduction of underglaze copper-red. Due to the difficulty firing the color, red had not been successfully produced since the early Ming period. The combined palette of powder-blue and copper-red was produced in the later years of the Kangxi period from about 1700-1720. The Rijksmuseum, Amsterdam holds many examples of this type including a covered box decorated with copper-red dragons similar to the present example and illustrated in Christiaan J.A. Jörg, Chinese Ceramics in the Collection of the Rijksmuseum Amsterdam, London, 1997, pl. 129. Another similar dish, but painted with a lady in the center, from the Collection of John and Julia Curtis, was sold at Christie's New York, 16th March 2015, lot 3585.

Sotheby's. Important Chinese Art New York, 15 Mar 2017