In ancient China, especially from the Qin and Han to the Tang period (221 BC–907 AD), ceramic figures such as these were an important part of funerary and ancestor worship, which was sometimes practiced at great expense. The terracotta warriors from the tomb of the first Chinese emperor Qin Shihuangdi (259–210 BC), which have so far only been partially excavated and are believed to total around 8,000 life-size pieces, are the most spectacular evidence of this practice to date.

Such burial objects are presumably an expression of the Daoist concept of two souls: the ethereal hun soul separates from the body of the deceased at the moment of death, while the po soul remains close to it for at least some time. To provide the po soul with every conceivable comfort and also to discourage it from disturbing the bereaved, the dead were given as much as possible of what was important to them during their lifetime to take with them to the grave. From the middle of the first millennium BC, live burials of spouses, servants, and pets were usually replaced by the burial of ceramic models. This also applied to houses, granaries, wells, etc.

The shape of the ceramic lady’s body corresponds to an ideal of beauty from the late Tang period (618–907 AD). Her face is depicted with finely drawn eyebrows and almond-shaped eyes in black and a small mouth in red. The bow-shaped hairstyle arching over the face transitions into a long, forward-facing, plaited topknot. The figure is dressed in a wide robe that falls loosely over the feet and has wide sleeves. She appears to be carrying an object between her lowered right hand and her raised left hand.