Note: This portly female figure represents the ideal of beauty during the Tang dynasty, which was often associated with Yang Guifei, one of China's great beauties and the influential concubine of the Tang emperor Xuangzong (r.712–756).

The floral designs depicted on the flowing robes may have represented the extravagant floral scrolls and medallions seen on Tang dynasty silk textiles. The flowers appearing on this lady's garment are similar to those on a fragment of a Tang dynasty silk in the British Museum (acc.no.MAS856).

A related pottery figure of a court lady, Tang dynasty, in the Palace Museum, Beijing, is illustrated in Diao Shi Ru Sheng: Gugong Cang Sui Tang Taoyong, Beijing, 2006, no.41, p.95.; another pottery figure, Tang dynasty, is illustrated in the Museum of Oriental Ceramics, Exhibition of Oriental Ceramics, Osaka, 1982, p.21, no.4.