The figure appears to be wearing a kind of armor or breastplate over the court robe. A similarly fierce-looking official wearing a breastplate and tall curving hat was found in the tomb of Doulu Jian, dated 744, in Xianyang, Shaanxi province. The excavated figure is of impressive size, 118cm. high, and was paired with another official of civilian type. A pottery head of an official wearing the same type of hat was found in another tomb dated 748, in the vicinity of Xi'an, Shaanxi. See Shaanxi sheng wenwu guanli weiyuan hui, Shaanxi sheng chutu Tang yong xuanji (A Selection of Tang tomb figures unearthed in Shaanxi province), Beijing, Wenwu Press, 1958, pls. 56, 57 and 106

A figure of a bearded official dressed in the same hat and armor and with the right hand held in the same position as the present example was also found in a Tang tomb in the Xi'an area. Unfortunately, the figure was broken at the waist and only the upper half remains. The tomb, dated 740, was that of Yang Siwu, an important eunuch at the court of Emperor Xuanzong. See Zhongguo shehui kexue yuan kaogu yanjiusuo, Tang Chang'an chengjiao Sui Tang mu (Excavation of Sui and Tang tombs at Xi'an), Beijing, Wenwu Press, 1980, pl. 97:2