A POWDER-BLUE AND COPPER-RED 'DRAGON' DISH, the interior with a four-clawed dragon striding in pursuit of a 'flaming pearl' painted in copper-red, all on a finely mottled cobalt blue ground, Chenghua mark and Kangxi period (1662-1722), diameter c. 20.5 cmPROVENANCE: From a Swedish private collection.NOTE: Among the many technical achievements of the Kangxi period was the reintroduction of underglaze copper-red. Due to the difficulty firing the colour, 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.