Sketching ’Serpenti’: Bulgari’s 2016 high jewellery collection

Bulgari’s audacious volumes and daring use of vibrant gem combinations is legendary. These sketches of the house’s 2016 high jewellery 'Serpenti' collection, designed by creative director Lucia Silvestri, re-imagine the Italian brand’s reptilian icon, which dates back to ancient Greek and Roman mythology.

This statement necklace, titled the ‘Serpenti Queen of the Nile’ (pictured right), traces the serpent motif back to Cleopatra’s day and is liberally studded with 12 marquise cut diamonds (9.54 carats), 28 round, pear and marquise shaped emeralds (35.42 carats), and finished with round and pavé diamonds totalling 11.03 carats.

Writer: Katrina Israel;

The Roman jeweller’s white gold ‘Serpenti Seduttori’ necklace is inlaid with piercing ruby eyes, brilliant sapphires and baguette diamonds. Bulgari’s signature modular hexagonal motif paves the serpent’s cranium, recalling the reptile’s tactile scales

An oval-cut 13.55 carat sapphire crowns the snake’s majestic head, while the pendant itself has an ergonomic curve that enables it to sit perfectly flush with the skin. The necklace has then been studded with 24.59 carats of baguette and pavé diamonds that glitter from top to tail