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This model depicts a female polo player riding a galloping horse. The Chinese believed that life after death was very similar to this world. At certain periods models of houses, farm animals, servants and other objects from every day life were included in the tombs of the wealthy. In this way they hoped to ensure that they would maintain the lifestyle they had known in this life after death.

Polo was first played in Persia, from as early as the 5th Century BC, where it was originally developed as a training game for cavalry units. Later the game passed from Persia to other parts of Asia, including China. It became a popular game among the elite of the Chinese Tang Dynasty and is depicted in paintings as well as tomb models such as this one.

The model would have originally been painted with bright colours. Some traces of the pigment still remain.