New impulses were imported via the Silk Route, by Sogdian and other foreign traders, whose cultures had themselves assimilated styles from Bactria further south and from the Sassanian empire further west.
The pleasurable lifestyle of the Tang aristocracy received a jolt through the rebellion of An Lushan in the mid-eighth century.
It was a time when lavish silk brocades and ostentatious items in gold, silver, tortoise shell, mother-of-pearl and glass were produced for an eager clientele.