The clock collection at Palazzo Reale is particularly significant, with 23 timepieces displayed along the route of the State Apartment, dating from the 18th and 19th centuries. Among the most notable are the rare Macchina di Clay from 1730, a Farnese-origin Thuret clock depicting Atlas Holding the Terrestrial Globe, and the imposing clocks created for Napoleon Bonaparte, true neoclassical sculptures in miniature.
With Joachim and Carolina Murat, passionate patrons of the arts, several timepieces arrived at Palazzo Reale, originally intended for Napoleon’s residences. Among them, of particular artistic significance, is the Clock with the Genius of the Arts, signed on the dial Thomire et C. / Bourdier Hr à Paris. It was made for the ceremonial cabinet of the Emperor at the Quirinal Palace. The clock features a wide marble base topped by an altar housing the dial, against which a winged male figure leans, symbolizing the Genius of the Arts.
The Clock with Meditation, with a dial signed by Bailly, Napoleon’s personal clockmaker, was originally intended for the Throne Room of the Quirinal Palace. Resting atop the base and leaning with her elbow on the case, a female figure, an allegory of Meditation, wears a laurel crown and holds a book in her right hand.
In Joachim Murat’s Study is the refined compensating pendulum clock in a long wooden case, signed on the dial Bailly Hr de Leurs MM. The case features gilded bronze appliqués with stylized floral motifs, arabesques, and laurel wreaths, symbols of imperial authority. The dial displays hours, zodiac signs, and the names of the months. Complementing this clock in the study’s furnishings is the barometer, also housed in a mahogany case with gilded bronze decorations.
