During an event dedicated to Rome, Bulgari presented its new high jewellery collection, named Aeterna, an obvious tribute to the eternal city – urbus aeterna – which so aptly describes the fabulous Italian city of a thousand lives! To celebrate the company’s 140th anniversary, the brand has put together a collection to mark the occasion, with no fewer than 500 new pieces, including high-end jewellery, watches, bags and even perfume bottles. To see : luminous colours, imposing jewels and magical stones!
The asked price of the Serpenti Aeterna necklace is $40 million. Bulgari’s latest collection is the largest and most expensive ever produced. It was unveiled over several days in the heart of the Baths of Diocletian, once the largest baths in ancient Rome. For this special occasion, the friends of the house worn the finest jewels from the brand. They included Carla Bruni, Anne Hathaway and Isabella Rossellini.
High jewellery unveils a dozen stunning pieces, including the Serpenti Aeterna necklace. No less than 2,800 hours of work went into this piece, which features seven D Flawless diamond pears totalling 140 carats from a single rough of more than 200 carats from Lesotho. These stones are set in a platinum setting featuring 698 custom-cut baguettes, totalling 61.81 carats. Following in the footsteps of Cartier, which chose Deepika Padukone for its new campaign, it was Indian actress Priyanka Chopra who was honoured with the most beautiful piece in the collection, telling not only jewellers’ enduring attraction to India but also the real emergence of a market for luxury goods.
But the collection doesn’t stop there. It includes an imposing 38.93-carat Sri Lankan sapphire and two pear sapphires from an old pair of earrings from the 1930s, each weighing 37.34 carats. The signature elements follow on from each other, with cabochons almost everywhere and motifs directly inspired by ancient mosaics.
Of course, it’s not just sapphires that Bulgari has chosen: emeralds are also very much in evidence, with a 31.07-carat stone from Zambia, and the Monete Aeterna Augustus Emerald necklace features more than 149 emerald beads totalling more than 615 carats. Last but not least, the pairing of two Mozambique rubies weighing 8.92 carats and 8.06 carats is breathtaking. It’s not every day you come across stones with such saturation.
While the collections will be unveiled throughout June (the dates of many of the presentations have been brought forward because of the Paris Olympics), there’s no doubt that the collection celebrating 140 years of the emblematic Roman house will live long in jewellery memories!
See you soon!
