The octagonal clock case resting on the back of the patinated bronze elephant, with white enamel dial and Roman Numerals. The face surrounded by four ormolu rosettes below a carved cornice and resting on an ormolu blanket. The elephant standing on a sienna marble base supported by four gilt bronze paw feet.

There was a considerable fashion in the mid 18th Century for clocks that incorporated figures of animals and mythical creatures such as rhinoceroses, parrots and dragons, which illustrate a fascination with the Orient and the exotic. Several elephant clocks are known including an earlier model by Jean-Joseph de Saint Germain, signed examples of which survive such as the one in the collection of the Duke of Buccleuch at Drumlanrig Castle. There are also a few rare examples of clocks, which use Meissen models of Elephants including one, probably modelled by Peter Reinicke, in the Rothschild Collection at Waddesdon Manor.

This clock has a very similar bronze elephant to the elephant clock in the Jones collection in the Victoria and Albert Museum ( see The Catalogue of the Jones collection, 1924, part II, no 253, p.65 pl 56 ), the case of which is signed “ fait par Caffieri “ and also a similar clock by Lenoir illustrated in Partridge Fine Arts recent acquisitions 1995 catalogue No 35 page 91.