The nomads that roamed the northeastern and northwestern borders feature prominently in early Chinese history and often constituted a threat to the established order of the Han empire. Several such groups established polities in northern China after the fall of the Han in the early third century. The Xianbei, a nomadic people with roots in northern Mongolia, were among the most prominent of these groups. One branch, known as the Murong Xianbei, sporadically controlled parts of northeastern China in the third and fourth centuries. Another, the Tuoba Xianbei, ruled as the Northern Wei dynasty (386–534) in the north, where it established a large empire.

For fifty years, the Tuoba capital at Pingcheng (present-day Datong) in Shanxi Province was the center of power, culture, and riches in North China. In addition to pottery figures recording the appearance and amusements of this nomadic group, tombs from the era have also yielded a wide-ranging variety of luxury goods, including glass bowls of Roman or Persian origin, alongside metalwork displaying Hellenistic, Persian, and Indian forms and motifs. Use of funerary sculptures depicting a wide array of people and animals reflects the adoption by the Xianbei of Chinese burial practices. Both the groom and the horse are handmade, as opposed to molded, and are painted in shades of white, red, and black. The groom's hat and tunic are standard items of Xianbei clothing and can often be seen in funerary sculptures.