An elegant Kangxi imperial and marked bowl, decorated with intense underglaze cobalt blue, depicting three qi dragons gliding among Buddhist lotus flowers, a common motif of Kangxi period (this shape qi dragon are also common during Yongzheng and early Qianlong periods); this well potted bowl has a thin translucent body made of very fine clay; the glaze is unctuous, even, slightly greenish, and lacks the shine of newly fired porcelains; the base is well cut and the glazed; the foot rim tip was finely polished into a semicircular curve before firing (commonly called nee chew bea, the back of an eel like fish) and has a gray color due to dust impregnation during past four centuries; all these features are common for Kangxi imperial wares. Height 2 1/2 in., Width 6 1/2 in. Provenance: Dr. Robert I-San Lin’s Collection of Important Chinese Arts, brought to California in 1960s