Figure

This unglazed earthenware figure represents a saluqi, a coursing hound. The presence of this and other similar figurines in tombs establishes that the Chinese imperial family had adopted the pursuits of the neighbouring steppe peoples, including hunting with dogs.

Some people believe that the saluqi is the earliest domesticated dog. It is known from about 2100 BC in ancient Egypt where these revered dogs were sometimes found mummified in royal tombs. Carvings dating from the Sumerian empire (7000-6000 BC) have also been identified as saluqi. The hounds were also known in India from the time of Alexander the Great and in China from these figurines in 8th-century tombs.