450 full-color illustrations 256 pages • 9-5/8 x 13" Paper over board ISBN 0-7892-0202-6 • $75.00

In this volume, detailed chapters examine a range of successful innovations such as the easy-to-wear everyday jewels made with precious gems, the powerful modular units combined in repeating patterns, and the recent trademark Bulgari wristwatches. Other chapters describe the creative inspiration that led the firm to its famous juxtaposition of unusual materials: mixing colorful semiprecious stones with priceless diamonds; mounting ancient coins in gold jewelry; and incorporating materials—like steel and white porcelain—that had never before been used in quality jewelry.

These and other fashions have sparked countless imitations by other jewelers, copies that can never rival the polish and flair of the Bulgari originals. The first book ever on Bulgari, this elegant volume will delight anyone in the fields of fashion and jewelry design as well as the many enthusiastic collectors of Bulgari pieces.

Daniela Mascetti is director of the jewelry department of Sotheby's London, and the author of several books on jewelry, two of which were written together with Amanda Triossi, who is also a jewelry expert at Sotheby's International.

Since the 1920s Hollywood stars such as Mary Pickford, Kay Frances, Gary Cooper, Shelley Winters, Tyrone Power, Zsa Zsa Gabor and Grace Kelly, later Princess Grace of Monaco, have either bought or owned Bulgari jewels. Countless celebrities have regularly visited the Bulgari shop in Rome from the years of the dolce vita on: Audrey Hepburn, Mel Ferrer, Gina Lollobrigida, Sophia Loren, Ingrid Bergman, Lee Radziwill, Virna Lisi, Merle Oberon, Ursula Andress, Kirk Douglas, Anna Magnani, Romy Schneider, Laura Antonelli, Charles Bronson, Jill Ireland, Mireille Darc, Veruschka, Klaus Kinski, John Wayne, Tony Curtis, Alice and Helen Kessler, and Mina...

For Richard Burton, who gave Elizabeth Taylor a Bulgari ring during the filming of Cleopatra in 1963, visiting Bulgari premises was a new and exciting experience. "I introduced her to beer," he is known to have said, "and she introduced me to Bulgari." If for Burton Bulgari was a novelty in 1963, for Liz it had become customary to receive Bulgari jewels. During those turbulent days of Cleopatra, she was conflicted over her relationship with Burton. Her fourth husband, Eddie Fisher, made the last attempt to save their marriage: he rushed out to Bulgari and bought her a fabulous emerald necklace. Life with Elizabeth had taught him the therapeutic value of such gifts; he knew that a beautiful jewel would make everything wonderful for some time.

Film directors and producers such as Carlo Ponti and Roberto Rossellini have shopped at Bulgari for Sophia Loren and for Ingrid Bergman, their respective wives. Vittorio De Sica is known to have been a client since 1939. Bulgari's association with the film industry has been strengthened in the last decades. In the 1970s American actress Jessica Lange was frequently seen wearing Bulgari jewels; for example, she wore panelled gold, emerald and diamond earrings in a photograph on the April 1979 cover of the American magazine Interview. Her seven-year exclusive contract with Dino de Laurentiis also included an association with Bulgari. In her first film, King Kong (1976), Lange—although scantily dressed and for most of the time in the clutches of the monster—still had the opportunity to show off Bulgari jewels for which the firm still receives credit.

Since the 1990s the firm has frequently loaned jewels to film stars to be worn on important occasions such as the Academy Awards; to Glenn Close in 1993, for example, and to Susan Sarandon in 1994. Bulgari also gave a BVLGARI-BVLGARI watch to Anthony Hopkins in honor of his Oscar for The Silence of the Lambs in 1991.

A spectacular necklace of 1972, decorated with stylized lotus motifs set with cabochon sapphires, black onyx and salmon pink coral highlighted with diamonds. The stylized floral pattern is of clear Egyptian derivation and illustrates how Bulgari readily responded to cultural phenomena of the time. Egyptian art, design and jewels came to the forefront in the western world in the early 1970s following the sensational first ever exhibition of the treasures of Tutankhamun. A group of eight bracelet-watches from the 1970s showing variations on the snake bracelet motif. These are either decorated with polychrome enamel and gemstones, or are characterized by a much more stylized form, where the dials become a feature of the design. In these latter examples the bracelet is either a coil of Tubogas or an elaborate woven band. Note the chromatic contrast achieved by the juxtaposition of differently colored metals such as gold and blackened steel. Kirk Douglas photographed in front of Bulgari, 1964. Audrey Hepburn with her son Sean entering Bulgari, 1971.