First Turkic Khaganate / Qalam

Turkic military leader among Turks and Sogdians. Relief from the Tomb of An Jia, Xi’an, 6th century CE / Wikimedia Commons

Representative of the Rouruan state in Wanghuitu (“The Gathering of Kings”), c. 650 CE. Illustration from a Tang dynasty Portraits of Periodical Offering (職貢圖)-style painting depicting foreign envoys. Rouruan (Western State) — present-day Mongolia / Wikimedia Commons

Emperor Wen of Sui (Yang Jian). Portrait of the founding emperor of China’s Sui dynasty (reigned 581–604) / Getty Images

Turkic horsemen with unidentified ambassadors. Panel from a marble mortuary bed, dated to the 5th–6th centuries CE / Wikimedia Commons

Turkic attendants with long plaits on the Afrasiab murals. Wall painting from the western wall of the “Hall of Ambassadors,” Samarkand (ancient Afrasiab), mid-7th century CE / Wikimedia Commons

Turkic head, 5th–7th centuries CE. Afrasiyab, Samarkand (photograph of the artifact) / Wikimedia Commons

An Jia with a Turkic chieftain in a yurt. Detail from a funerary relief in the Tomb of An Jia, Xi’an, 579 CE. Xi’an, China / Wikimedia Commons

Shahi Tegin (Sri Shahi), ruler of the Turk Shahis. Coin, after 679 CE. Western Turkic Khaganate / Wikimedia Commons

Emperor Gaozu of the Tang dynasty (Li Yuan). Portrait from the Ming dynasty (1368–1644). National Palace Museum, Taipei / Wikimedia Commons

Emperor Taizong of the Tang dynasty (Li Shimin). Portrait from the Ming dynasty (1368–1644). National Palace Museum, Taipei / Wikimedia Commons

Mural commemorating the victory of General Zhang Yichao over the Tibetans in 848. Mogao cave 156, Late Tang dynasty. Gansu Province, China / Wikimedia Commons

Fresco depicting soldiers of the Tang dynasty army. Tang dynasty period (618–907 CE) / Getty Images

Murals picturing mounted soldiers on the wall of the Qianling Mausoleum. Tang dynasty tomb site in Qian County, Shaanxi Province, China / Getty Images

Sogdian on a camel. Chinese Tang dynasty sancai ceramic. Shanghai Museum / Wikimedia Commons

Mural from the Tomb of Xu Xianxiu showing male court musicians playing the pipa and liuqin and a woman playing the konghou. Tomb of Xu Xianxiu, Taiyuan, Shanxi Province, 571 CE, Northern Qi dynasty / Wikimedia Commons

Marble head of the general and prince Kül Tigin (684–731) of the Second Turkic Khaganate. Found at the Khöshöö-Tsaidam site, Orkhon Valley, Mongolia / Wikimedia Commons