Standing on the pedestal is an elephant, with a pavilion on its back.

This design symbolizes the Chinese idiom tai ping you xiang meaning "peace and affluence".

The clock also introduces Western art and science to its future Chinese owner.

A sculpture inside the pavilion portrays Atlas, the divine being who holds up the sky in Greek mythology, holding an ecliptic armillary sphere.

At the turn of every three hours, the fountains, the sphere and the flower designs at the top rotate, synchronizing with the elephant's moving body including its nose, eyes, ears and tail.

The clock revealed an interesting side of "timepiece diplomacy" between the East and the West at the time, says Li Yizhou, the general manager of Poly's Chinese ceramic arts unit.

He says the introduction of Western timepieces to China marked historic moments in the exchange of the two cultures, over a period of six centuries from the Ming (1368-1644) to the Qing dynasties.