Foreign traders and caravan animals were another popular form of mingqi (tomb figurine). Most of the overland trade between China and the west was carried out by Central Asian and Near Eastern merchants, many of them Sogdians. For this reason, merchant mingqi figurines are often depicted with beards and clothed in Central Asian garb. The camel depicted here is packed with a relatively light load (Bactrian camels are capable of carrying as much as 500 pounds), and hanging from the saddle we can see a water bottle, a blanket and provisions to sustain the traveler. Perhaps pack animals and foreign merchant mingqi figurines were buried along with the deceased in order to guarantee in the afterlife an uninterrupted supply of luxury goods for which the Tang populace had developed a distinguished taste.