This terracotta fragment of the head of a horse, might have belonged to a figurine of a horse with rider. The facial features, reins and mane are incised. Everything below the neck is missing. It was acquired at Yotkan, the site of the former capital of the Kingdom of Khotan, ca. 10 km west of today's town of Khotan in Xinjiang, China, and a major Buddhist centre. At this site large quantities of antiquities were brought to light, unfortunately generally not from scientific excavations. The most characteristic finds are small terracottas, moulded appliques in classical style and tiny animal figurines.

The Victoria and Albert Museum has more than 70 ceramic fragments and fragments of Buddhist sculptures, as well as around 600 ancient and medieval textiles recovered by Sir Marc Aurel Stein (1862-1943) during his second expedition (1906-8) into Chinese Central Asia, where he once again visited and excavated sites on the southern Silk Road, before moving eastwards to Dunhuang. At Dunhuang, he studied and excavated the Han-dynasty watchtowers to the north of the town, as well as the Mogao cave temples to the southeast, where he acquired material from the Library Cave. From there he moved on to the northern Silk Road, stopping briefly at Turfan sites but not carrying out any excavations. He made a perilous north-south crossing of the Taklamakan desert in order to hasten to Khotan where he excavated more ancient sites, before finishing off his expedition with surveying in the Kunlun Mountains.