Ca. 618–907 AD. Tang Dynasty. A superbly modelled terracotta camel standing four square on a low rectangular base. The full-bellied beast has long spindly legs, a long neck curving forward, the head thrown back, small eyes, and the ears pricked up. The hump is fitted with a wide saddlecloth with full packs with traces of white slip, which can also be seen on the camel's head. To the people of China’s Tang dynasty (618–907), no other animal was quite as useful as the humble camel. Camels were called the ‘ships of the desert’ because they could travel up to 30 miles a day carrying 120kg of cargo. This made them indispensable beasts of burden for hauling precious goods along the Silk Road — thousands of miles over inhospitable terrain to places like Damascus, Samarkand and Constantinople. For more general information on the Tang Dynasty, see Benn, C. (2002). Daily Life in Traditional China: The Tang Dynasty. Westport: Greenwood Press and Watt, J. C. Y., et al. (2004). China: Dawn of a Golden Age, 200–750 A.D. Exhibition catalogue. New York: Metropolitan Museum of Art. For a similar terracotta Tang camel, https://www.christies.com/lot/lot-5482076; also, https://www.christies.com/lot/lot-5163822. Provenance: UK private collection; formerly acquired in the early 1990s in Hong Kong. Size: L:450mm / W:380mm ; 6.5kg