{"id":35193,"date":"2019-11-27T14:34:58","date_gmt":"2019-11-27T12:34:58","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.gmtmag.com\/?p=35193"},"modified":"2019-11-27T14:34:58","modified_gmt":"2019-11-27T12:34:58","slug":"serpentine-seduction","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.gmtmag.com\/en\/lady-en-2\/joaillerie-2\/serpentine-seduction.html","title":{"rendered":"Serpentine seduction"},"content":{"rendered":"<p class=\"p1\"><strong><i>Inspired by an age-old symbol that is the stuff of legend Bvlgari\u2019s Serpenti collections have long channeled the seductive powers of the snake into signature designs that capture the jeweler\u2019s illimitable style.<\/i><\/strong><\/p>\n<p class=\"p1\"><span class=\"s1\">W<\/span>hile not the first to draw inspiration from the potent charms of the snake, Bvlgari\u2019s ability to craft the creature\u2019s sinuous symbolic strength into magnificent adornments and timepieces has made it an unmistakable emblem of the Roman jeweler\u2019s boundless creativity. In 1962, a photograph of a glamorous Elizabeth Taylor wearing a bejeweled Serpenti watch on the set of <i>Cleopatra <\/i>did much to propel Bvlgari\u2019s design into the international spotlight.<\/p>\n<p class=\"p1\">The gold watch with a diamond-pav\u00e9 serpent\u2019s head \u2013 set with emerald eyes and a crest of marquise-shaped diamonds \u2013 seen in publicity stills on Ms. Taylor\u2019s wrist was well-suited to her role as Queen of Egypt, adorned with snake-inspired accessories chosen to express Cleopatra\u2019s sensuality and seductive powers. Fueled by the media frenzy over the actress\u2019 scandalous love affair with Richard Burton, punctuated by frequent shopping trips to Bvlgari\u2019s boutique, the serpent came to embody the inimitable glamour of Rome in the 1960s.<\/p>\n<p class=\"p1\">The snake\u2019s multilayered, cross-cultural and mythologically-inspired symbolism have made it particularly expressive as a design motif for Bvlgari. The \u201cOuroboros\u201d \u2013 a serpent eating its own tail \u2013 symbolized regeneration or the cycle of life and death in Ancient Egypt. In Rome, the snake was a guardian of temples, entwined on a rod wielded by Asclepius, god of healing ; or a predatory beast attacking the Trojan priest Laoco\u00f6n and his two sons at the Vatican.<\/p>\n<p class=\"p1\">Bvlgari\u2019s serpentine saga, however, had begun long before <i>Cleopatra<\/i>. The jeweler\u2019s snake-shaped watches were introduced in the late 1940s, concurrently with the Tubogas technique that produced the coiled brace-lets which became 1980s icons. Over the years, Bvlgari continued to reinvent its versatile \u201cwrap-around\u201d snake design with ever-more imaginative jewelry and watch creations in a variety of metal, stone and color combinations.<\/p>\n<p class=\"p1\">The Tubogas design inspired the Serpenti Seduttori, Bvlgari\u2019s daily-wear watch with a slinky bracelet and slimmer snakehead, which is also its most \u201cmainstream\u201d Serpenti proposition to date. Geometric iterations as seen in the Serpenti Incantati have toyed with abstraction while allowing Bvlgari to add a complication, as in its Tourbillon Lumi\u00e8re model.<\/p>\n<p class=\"p1\">Still, the most magnificent Serpenti timepieces are the bejeweled ones. The Serpenti Misteriosi Romani secret watch is poised to become a serious contender next November at the Grand Prix d\u2019Horlogerie de Gen\u00e8ve. A showcase for Bvlgari\u2019s unique skill in marrying its watchmaking know-how with its jewelry-making heritage, this seductive snake is another dazzling incarnation of the perpetual rebirth of the Serpenti design.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Inspired by an age-old symbol that is the stuff of legend Bvlgari\u2019s Serpenti collections have [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":36,"featured_media":35190,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[39,1674],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.gmtmag.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/35193"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.gmtmag.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.gmtmag.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.gmtmag.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/36"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.gmtmag.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=35193"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.gmtmag.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/35193\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":35194,"href":"https:\/\/www.gmtmag.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/35193\/revisions\/35194"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.gmtmag.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/35190"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.gmtmag.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=35193"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.gmtmag.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=35193"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.gmtmag.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=35193"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}