[7] The man's head features (cheek, mouth, blue eyes,[8] nose, hairband) and the spear representation are modeled similarly with the depiction of Alexander the Great on a medallion found from Roman Egypt (215-243 AD)[9] and could represent the king.

[19] His headband could be a diadem, a symbol of kingship in the Hellenistic world – and represented on Macedonian and other ancient Greek coinage.

[12] His cape is made of the Nemean lion skin and the centaur is a reference to both Heracles and Chiron (the mentor of Achilles).

[12][15][22][23][24] The tapestry was excavated in 1983–1984 at an ancient burial ground in Sampul (Shanpula), 30 km east of Hotan (Khotan), in the Tarim Basin.

[22] Certain motifs, particularly the animal head on the soldier's dagger, suggest that the tapestry originated in the kingdom of Parthia in northern Iran.

[30] The existence of this tapestry tends to suggest that contacts between the Hellenistic kingdoms of Central Asia and the Tarim Basin, at the edge of the Chinese world, occurred from around the 3rd century BC.

[24] Centaur and head fragments of the tapestry have been a part of a major exhibition China: Dawn of a Golden Age, 200–750 AD, held at the Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, from 12 October 2004 to 23 January 2005.