This large unglazed pottery horse, with unusual red pigments, stands on a rectangular base. Its long striding legs, pricked ears, wavy forelock and flowing saddle cloth all suggest a horse in motion. The horse’s neck is gracefully arched, its head carefully modelled with an alert expression, pricked ears and flaring nostrils. A groove runs down the length of the animal’s neck, in which probably once real horse hair was placed. The modelled tail is neatly bound and dressed. Each part of the horse was individually moulded and then assembled with slip. The facial features were individually modelled by hand, giving each piece its own character. The whole would be covered in a white slip and cold painted in coloured pigments.

In the Tang period, pottery models of horses were produced in substantial quantities testifying to their importance in Chinese society. However the size of the figures, as well as the amount allowed in burials were regulated by strict sumptuary laws. The unusually large size of this horse indicates it would have been made for an important nobleman or princeling.