An ancient Chinese jade knotted serpent pendant, an ancient Roman gold coiled bangle, Queen Victoria’s emerald-and-ruby snake engagement ring, and Elizabeth Taylor’s Bvlgari Serpenti gold-and-diamond bracelet watch worn on the set of Cleopatra: These are just a few of the many manifestations of snake jewelry, a symbol of metamorphosis that spans millennia and cultures. In the modern era, no jeweler has been more closely intertwined with all things ophidian than Bvlgari, the Roman jeweler that has been reinventing its signature Serpenti motif for almost eight decades since introducing an elegant multi-coil snake bracelet watch in 1948.
To mark the Year of the Snake— the year in the Chinese zodiac associated with change, renewal, and personal growth—Bvlgari’s traveling exhibition Serpenti Infinito is slithering across Asia this spring from Shanghai to Seoul and Mumbai. “The snake represents unity across cultures, with its infinite metamorphoses transcending time and space it has indeed become a powerful emblem of connection,” says Bvlgari deputy chief executive Laura Burdese. “The Year of the Snake is a momentous occasion for the brand to continue engaging in the ever-evolving cross-cultural dialogue between East and West, past and present, art and jewelry, history and innovation.”
Featuring 28 works by 19 international artists including Qiu Anxiong, Refik Anadol, and Daniel Rozin, Serpenti Infinto burrows into this rich comparative mythology, exploring how the snake’s ability to shed its skin lies at the core of man’s relation with the transcendental. In ancient China the deities Fuxi and Nüwa were depicted with snake-like features, while in ancient Egypt the goddess Isis could take the form of a winged king cobra with the head of a woman. The ancient Greeks and Romans similarly worshipped Hygeia and Salus, goddesses of health and healing with sacred snakes wrapped around their arms.
When 19th-century archeological digs at the Valley of the Kings, Troy, and Pompeii unearthed ancient snake jewelry, it sparked a revival that continues to the present day. The Italian jewelers Giuliano and Castellani faithfully recreated Hellenic styles such as turquoise serpent necklaces and gold snake bracelets with gem-studded heads. Cleopatra-style bangles modeled on the serpentine armbands worn by the ancient Egyptian queen charmed many European monarchs from Empress Eugénie, who owned a Mellerio diamond-and-turquoise snake bracelet, to Alexandra of Denmark, who often sported a gold coiled serpent bracelet. Queen Victoria was so enamored of the style that in 1838 Prince Albert commissioned a special snake engagement ring for her featuring emerald, ruby, and diamond accents detailing the head, eyes, and crown.
Egyptomania continued into the 20th century, thanks in part to a famous Georges Fouquet snake hand chain created for Sarah Bernhardt to wear in an 1899 stage run of Cleopatra. The colorful double-headed piece was made using an enamel cloisonné technique and finished with opals, rubies, and diamonds, with a thin chain connecting the bracelet to the ring. Then, the discovery of Tutankhamun’s tomb in 1922 inspired Place Vendôme jewelers to interpret the snake cuff in the mode blanche style using platinum and diamonds, while Elsa Schiaparelli and Coco Chanel offered costume jewelry versions throughout the interwar years.
Bvlgari’s great innovation was to marry form with function by attaching a timepiece to a snake bracelet. The Serpenti Tubogas watch proposed in 1948 was an instant classic. Featuring a square face and fashioned from tubogas (Italian for “gas pipe”), a flexible, hollow chain made from tightly wound gold strips, it could be wound around the wrist in one or more bright supple coils. Mid-century etiquette considered it impolite for women to check the time in public, so in the 1950s Bvlgari’s master jewelers developed a charming solution: They added a more naturalistic jeweled snake head that would open its hinged jaws to reveal the dial only when required.
Serpenti became a bona fide global phenomena in 1962 when Elizabeth Taylor donned one of these Serpenti ‘secret’ watches covered in shiny gold scales and diamonds in a publicity photo for Cleopatra that rivaled the glittering snake armbands she wore on screen. Bvlgari soon brought out instantly iconic Serpenti specimens with cabochons and vibrant colored enamels that appeared almost lifelike, including a blue, red, and black model inspired by milk snake and a kaleidoscopic long-nosed vine snake model with white, red, green, black, brown, and turquoise scales. Legendary editor Diana Vreeland favored a pink-and-white enamel Serpenti belt, which she wore coiled around her neck.
Over the years, Serpenti has continued to evolve while retaining a reverence for the past, and there is little the maison hasn’t tried from octagonal watch cases to five-wrap bracelets. Since the 1990s, Bvlgari has also expanded into new categories including sunglasses and handbags. Creative director of leather goods Mary Katrantzou’s new heart-shaped Serpenti Cuore 1968 top-handle bag crafted in matelassé calf leather with a sinuous metallic handle takes cues from the 1968 Harlequin bracelet watch, named after its four colors of enamel.
Other highlights for the Year of the Snake include stunning high jewelry rings featuring sapphire, ruby, and emerald scales that match their glittering eyes; sleek yellow gold Serpenti Viper hoop earrings with a stylized head that rests on the tail; and a Serpenti Tubogas watch in rose gold and stainless steel with pavé diamond that harkens back to the snake that started it all.
