Tang Tri-color ware was produced at the height of the Tang dynasty’s strength and prosperity; the court was “pure and bright,” society stable, the economy flourishing.

Tang Tri-color ware is broadly divided into two categories: ornaments and utensils of daily use. The items especially designed as funerary ornaments include funerary honor guards of civil and military officials, animal headstones, statues of the Emperor of Heaven, models, male, female and animal attendants, most of which were unearthed from Tang dynasty tombs. The items are fired uncolored at temperatures between 1,000 and 1,100°C before being glazed, then placed in a kiln to be fired for a second time at between 800 and 900°C. Because the temperature of the post-glazing firing was lower than that of the pre-glazing firing, almost no changes in shape and the multi-coloring occurred during the post-glazing firing. The colors of each of the glazes mixed and blended with one another, creating that luscious, extravagant phenomenon that is the distinct decorative flavor of the exceptionally splendid Tang Tri-color pottery.