Old Summer Palace bronze heads

The Twelve Old Summer Palace bronze heads are a collection of bronze fountainheads in the shape of the Chinese zodiac animals that were part of a water clock fountain in front of the Haiyantang (Chinese: 海晏堂; pinyin: Hǎiyàntáng) building of the Xiyang Lou (Western style mansions) area of the Old Summer Palace in Beijing.

Believed to have been designed by the Jesuit Giuseppe Castiglione for the Qianlong Emperor, the statues would spout out water from their mouths to tell the time.

[1][2] The bronze-cast heads of the stone statues were among the treasures looted during the destruction of the Old Summer Palace by British and French expeditionary forces in 1860 during the Second Opium War.

China Poly bought the tiger, monkey, and ox through auction houses in Hong Kong in 2000, while the pig's head was recovered in New York by Hong Kong casino magnate Stanley Ho, who in turn donated it to the Poly Museum.

After a stint in the Capital Museum,[11] the NCHA moved the horse head back to the Old Summer Palace.