The phrase refers to a very clumsy creature in a delicate situation.
Example of use: "Danny's like a bull in a china shop - don't let him near those sculptures."
Although the expression is a very easy one to understand, the origin of the idiom “a bull in a china shop” isn’t precisely known. This vividly descriptive phrase is presumed to have been used sometime before the year 1834, when it was first seen in print in a novel called Jacob Faithful by Frederick Marryat.