Re -Train Your Brain To Happiness: Elizabeth Taylor's Bulgari Jewellery Goes On Show In Melbourne

October 05, 2016

Elizabeth Taylor's Bulgari Jewellery Goes On Show In Melbourne

A new exhibition at the National Gallery of Victoria (NGV) will showcase priceless Bulgari jewellery, including emerald and diamond jewels gifted to actress Elizabeth Taylor on the set of Cleopatra.

The show, Italian Jewels: Bulgari Style, will feature more than 80 pieces of jewellery with a focus on the La Dolce Vita period of the 1950s and '60s, when Rome was a popular location for Hollywood films.

Among the collection are jewels gifted to Taylor by Richard Burton, her fifth husband, including an emerald ring he gave her on set of 1963 film Cleopatra, where their love affair first began.

Taylor later auctioned the ring, which featured a stunning octagonal step-cut Columbian emerald, with the note "Wear it with love!".

Bulgari's brand and heritage creator Lucia Boscaini, who was in Melbourne for the show's opening, said jewellery was defining for leading actresses of the past such as Taylor, who often wore her own pieces in her films.

"That's why I believe the majority of them used to wear their own jewels in movies.
"You see it for Elizabeth Taylor, Ingrid Bergman, Anita Ekberg — a long list of names. I think that's really very much linked to the wellbeing you feel wearing important jewels.

"Elizabeth Taylor knew very well the precious gemstones and she used to be very sophisticated in selecting what she liked and what she didn't.

"That's very special, I would say. I don't know if today it's the same because it's a completely different kind of world."

Ms Boscaini said the eight jewels that comprise Bulgari's Elizabeth Taylor collection were purchased at auction for about $39 million in 2011.

"How much is it worth today? I can't really say. It would be a little bit more than that, because of course it's becoming more and more valuable.

Paola Di Trocchio, the NGV's fashion and textiles curator, said Taylor's jewels were stunning.

"The emeralds are just absolutely exquisite. The romantic story behind them is also beautiful," she said.

Some of the handcrafted jewels would have taken a year or more to create, she added.
"They are all one offs and they are all of the highest quality," she said.

Other pieces in the show include a ruby and diamond necklace worn by Sophia Loren in Robert Altman's 1994 film Pret-a-Porter and a diamond necklace worn on the red carpet by British actress Keira Knightley. (the neckace worn by Claudia Cardinale below).

The majority of the pieces in the show come from Bulgari's own collection, but pieces have also been loaned from private collectors and the National Museum of Qatar.
The free show at the NGV International will open on September 30 and will run to January 29, 2017.
With many thanks to the ABC

Top picture:

Elizabeth Taylor in a publicity photograph for The V.I.P.s (1963) movie wearing her Bulgari platinum, emerald and diamond tremblant brooch; and Colombian emerald brooch with earrings, 1963

Necklace 1989
gold, emerald, amethyst, ruby, diamond 37.0 x 3.0 cm
Bulgari Heritage Collection, Rome

Elizabeth Taylor wearing an array of Bulgari jewels at the 20th Anniversary Gala of Unicef at the Théâtre National de Chaillot in Paris, 1967

Tunisian-born Italian actress Claudia Cardinale featured in Vogue Italia wearing a Bulgari necklace and a bracelet (worn as a necklace), 1966

Italian actors Sophia Loren and Marcello Mastroianni on the set of the film Prêt-à- Porter (Ready to Wear) (1994), directed by American Robert Altman. Loren wears a Bulgari necklace and earrings in gold with rubies and diamonds.