Écrin

Rome · Rome, since 1884

Bulgari

Signed BVLGARI with the Roman V: deep yellow gold, coloured stones cut as plump cabochons, ancient coins set as if just lifted from the Forum. The house builds Rome into its jewels: the Colosseum's tiers on a ring, a mosaic floor from the Baths of Caracalla on a pendant, a gold snake coiled round the wrist.

Founded by Sotirio Bulgari (Sotirios Voulgaris). Ideas from €1,490. Bulgari site

Serpenti necklace in white gold paved with diamonds, the snake's head and tapering tail lying on embossed BVLGARI paper
Image © Bulgari

Serpenti

1948 From €1,670
Three B.zero1 four-band rings in rose, white and yellow gold with diamond-set edges, on embossed BVLGARI paper
Image © Bulgari

B.zero1

1999 From €1,490
Divas' Dream pendant on a rose-gold chain, the fan paved with diamonds shading to pink sapphires below a round pink sapphire, on embossed BVLGARI paper
Image © Bulgari

Divas' Dream

2016 From €3,650
Tubogas

Tubogas

1941 From €9,800
Parentesi

Parentesi

1982
Fiorever

Fiorever

2018
Monete

Monete
Bvlgari Bvlgari

Bvlgari Bvlgari

The conversation

Bulgari answering

  • LOVE bracelet, classic model, in yellow gold with a row of screw heads, on a pale grey ground.

    B.zero1 after LOVE, Cartier

    Thirty years on, Bulgari took up the gold band that announces itself, spiralling it after the Colosseum and engraving its own name on the rims.

  • Alhambra

    Divas' Dream after Alhambra, Van Cleef & Arpels

    Divas' Dream takes up the motif repeated as a talisman: a Roman fan edged in gold and filled with pavé, malachite or mother-of-pearl.

  • Sunflower

    Fiorever after Sunflower, Harry Winston

    Fiorever takes up petals opened round a single brilliant and reduces them to four of gold.

Answered by other houses

  • Torsade de Chaumet ring, 3.5 mm, rose gold

    Torsade de Chaumet, Chaumet after B.zero1

    Chaumet also spirals after a monument: the frieze winding up the Vendôme Column, itself modelled on Trajan's in Rome.

  • Serpent Bohème XS ring in yellow gold: a diamond-paved drop framed by gold beads, on a beaded band, on a white ground.

    Serpent Bohème, Boucheron after Serpenti

    Twenty years after Rome wound its serpent round the wrist, Boucheron kept only the head: a gold drop ringed with beads.

  • Pi pendant: a hand-hammered disc of 24-carat yellow gold with a central hole, on a white ground.

    Pi, dinh van after Monete

    Where Bulgari set ancient coins whole, Dinh Van hammered a new disc of pure gold after the bi of ancient China.

  • Three Tiffany T wire bracelets in rose, white and yellow gold, their T-shaped terminals set with diamonds, stacked on a pale blue ground.

    Tiffany T, Tiffany & Co. after Bvlgari Bvlgari

    Tiffany T takes up the house mark worn as the jewel, reduced from a whole name to one capital.

  • Tiffany HardWear link necklace in 18k yellow gold with a run of pavé diamond links, laid out on a Tiffany Blue ground.

    Tiffany HardWear, Tiffany & Co. after Parentesi

    HardWear takes up the single link repeated into a necklace and gives it the weight of industrial gauge chain.

Inside the house

  • Serpenti necklace in white gold paved with diamonds, the snake's head and tapering tail lying on embossed BVLGARI paper

    Serpenti after Tubogas

    The first Serpenti bracelet-watch was wound on a Tubogas coil, so the serpent's body began as a spring of gold.

  • Monete

    Monete after Tubogas

    Bulgari hung its ancient coins on Tubogas chokers, the worn bronze of Rome set against a coil of polished gold.

  • Bvlgari Bvlgari

    Bvlgari Bvlgari after Monete

    Bvlgari Bvlgari engraves the house's name twice round a rim, the way a Roman coin carries an emperor's.

  • Three B.zero1 four-band rings in rose, white and yellow gold with diamond-set edges, on embossed BVLGARI paper

    B.zero1 after Bvlgari Bvlgari

    B.zero1 carries the doubled logotype onto two rims and lets a spiral climb between them.