Signed "Marco Miroglio in Roma" at the back of the dial.

This notturno clock, which shows on the dial the Aristotelic motto on the transience and helplessness of man in the face of time and destiny ("homo spolium temporis e foruna lusus"), is part of a series of works of Roman manufacture produced during the seventeenth century for the city aristocracy, of which one of the most important examples are certainly the ebonized wood clock with embossed and gilt metal decorations, by the watchmaker Michael (1670), formerly in the collection of Count Carlo Cardelli; however, the most stringent comparison can be made with a model published by G. Lizzani in "Il Mobile Romano", 1997 (plate XXX), formerly part of the Alessandro Orsi collection, which is very similar to ours, with a wooden ebonized case similar in decoration and structure, as well as the copper dial painted with a representation of Time, here in the metaphorical features of a helmsman. Two clocks signed by Miroglio are mentioned by Alvar Gonzàles-Palacios in the inventory of the Neapolitan collection of the Marquis del Carpio (A. Gonzàles-Palacios, "Il Tempio del Gusto, Roma e il Regno delle due Sicilie", Milan 1984, p. 224).

Comparative literature: E. Morpurgo, "Dizionario degli orologiai italiani", Milan 1974, p. 116;
A. Gonzàles-Palacios, "Il Tempio del Gusto, Roma e il Regno delle due Sicilie", Milan 1984, p. 224;
G. Lizzani, "Il Mobile Romano", Milan1970, tav. XXX.