Footnotes

Accompanied by a letter of authenticity.

琺瑯,祖母綠配鑽石'Serpenti'系列腕表,寶格麗,约1970代

The Serpenti collection of jewellery and watches is unequivocally an icon of Bulgari design. The earliest Serpenti collection pieces can be traced back to the 1940s, in the form of tubogas snake bracelets. Some twenty years later, the late Elizabeth Taylor helped propel the Bulgari snake bracelet into the spotlight when she was photographed wearing one on the set of Cleopatra in 1962. Her bracelet became a celebrated example of the original snake bracelets designed by Bulgari from 1950 until 1970.

According to Marion Fasel in her book 'Bvlgari Serpenti Collection' (Assouline, 2013), early Serpenti bracelets were designed with a white gold spring inside the body, and a flexible outer band allowing the bracelet to cling gently to its wearer's wrist. In the early versions, scales tended to be engraved, and either overlapping as gold bands of pentagonal in structure. The snakes were decorated with various gems set into the eyes, and forked tongues extending just beyond the mouth. Like the present example, the hinged jaws opened to reveal a circular watch with a swiss movement by Jaeger-LeCoultre. Each piece represented a unique model, displaying varied details and accents.

During the mid 1960s, enameled versions began to emerge. Similarities, however, between these versions and those of the 1940s and 1950s remained, with motifs of gem-set details, forked tongues and round watch faces incorporated into the updated designs. Bulgari partnered with Jaeger-LeCoultre and Vacheron Constantin on the movements for the watch mechanisms. The present lot bears these characteristics, suggesting that its manufacture took place in the late 1960s or early 1970s. Further to this, during the 1970s, a famous series of Bulgari advertisements were produced featuring enameled snake bracelet-watches wrapped around a large B. An example of one of these advertisements appears in Fasel's book and features a black enameled Serpenti watch which is similar in form and detailed design to the present lot.

According to Fasel, it is believed that fewer than one hundred pieces of snake jewellery were ever produced by Bulgari during the 1960s and 1970s, making the present lot a rare example of the early Bulgari Serpenti collection.

C.f. Fasel, M., Bvlgari Serpenti Collection, Assouline, 2013