Considered as the Golden Age in Chinese history, the Tang Dynasty spanned nearly 300 years from the early 7th century to 10th century. There were great advances made in sciences, medicine, technology, woodblock printing and gunpowder were invented. A strong central government brought about a period of great economic and cultural prosperity. The boundaries of the empire continued to expand to Central Asia in the west, Korea in the East, and Vietnam in the South.

Tang emperors were patrons of art and sponsors of massive building projects. For instance, the 2nd emperor, Tang Taizong was a poet as well as a calligrapher. Tang Ming Huang (Xuanzong) was a calligrapher and a musician.

Tang was well known for its Sancai polychrome pottery. Sancai refers to three colors namely yellow, green and brown. The best knowns are the horse figures. Horses were admired because of their speed, endurance, and were in dispensable in warfare, hunting and aristocratic pastime of polo playing. Camel figures were also important, as camels were crucial in trade and culture exchange between China and Middle East through the famous Silk Road. They represented the continuance of prosperity and wealth. Some camel figures have saddlebags with a guardian monster mask.

Early Tang figures are always stiff and in columnar form with the limbs closed to the body. The Hu people were a popular theme that were usually depicted as bearded and half-naked. The tomb guardian, called Tian Wang, was protector of the four cardinal directions. Later in the Tang dynasty, figures have striking sculptural quality. For this reason, Tang Pottery can be found in many of the world's museums for their unsurpassed level of artwork.