The official wears a small elegant hat over long curled hair. The talent of the artist can be seen in the finely carved face which has pronounced non-Chinese features : an aquiline nose, small mouth and thin smiling lips, deep-set wide open eyes. He wears round earrings. The simplicity of the dress offers a nice contrast with these finely detailed features.

The Khorezmians were a population living in Khoresm, a region located north of the Aral sea at the lower reaches of the Amu Darya river.

The figure can be compared with a Khorezmian dancer in the collection of the Royal Ontario Museum.

Ref: ”Foreigners in Ancient Chinese art”, Ezekiel Schloss, China Institute - 1969.