The bronze statue of the twelve zodiac animal heads in Yuanmingyuan - Dragon Head

Originally part of the fountain outside the Haiyan Hall of the Yuanmingyuan. The bronze statue of the dragon head represents the hour of Chen (7am to 9pm) and is one of the twelve zodiac bronze statues. It was designed by European missionary, Italian Lang Shining, supervised by French Jiang Youren, and produced by Qing court craftsmen. The bronze statue of the dragon's head symbolizes power and nobility, and is an important symbol in traditional Chinese culture. In 1860, the Anglo French coalition invaded China and burned down the Old Summer Palace, causing the bronze dragon head statue to begin to be lost overseas. It is now collected in Taiwan, China, China, but the specific situation is still unclear. On December 17, 2018, the dragon head, suspected to be one of the twelve animal heads of the Yuanmingyuan zodiac, appeared at a small auction in Paris, France.