FLOAT 100 · Jewelry · No. 98
Buccellati Opera Tulle Ring (18k gold + mother-of-pearl)
A Milanese goldsmith who fell for Venetian lace taught his workshop to saw gold into a net of tiny holes, each reworked by hand at least five times, and a century later his family's logo sits on a sunburst of that gold lace over a disc of mother-of-pearl.
- Year
- current
- Maker
- Buccellati
- By price in jewelry
- 86 of 100
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- Buccellati, Milan, founded 1919 by Mario Buccellati
- Collection
- Opera, launched July 6, 2015 in Paris; the Opera Tulle line debuted in 2017
- Reference
- JAURIN017827
- Metal
- 18k yellow gold (750/1000)
- Stone
- One mother-of-pearl background
- Motif
- Buccellati logo element over radial (raggiera) tulle, with a yellow gold rosette at the center; big motif
- Technique
- Tulle openwork: gold sheet pierced with a saw into a network of small openings
- Sizes
- 49 to 55
- Maker's U.S. price
- $4,700 excluding sales tax (October 2026)
Lace, cut from gold
Buccellati calls tulle, or 'honeycombing,' the openwork technique that made Mario Buccellati famous around the world. Like the fabric it is named for, it is a net: a sheet of gold is pierced with a hacksaw until it becomes a network of tiny polygonal holes, which can then be enriched with applied gold or precious stones.
The house says that to make the pattern perfectly regular, each cell has to be reworked with a hand saw at least five times. The young Mario was inspired by Venetian lace to bring the weave of lace and tulle to the gold plate. Over time the workshop developed variations, among them tulle raggiera, with long, narrow openings arranged in a sunburst, often around a central stone, and a labyrinth form.
The Opera Tulle ring uses the raggiera version. Buccellati describes it as a logo element in yellow gold set on a mother-of-pearl background, topped with radial tulle and centered on a yellow gold rosette, with fan-shaped scalloped borders and shiny gold beads.
The family behind the emblem
In Milan, Mario Buccellati apprenticed with the goldsmiths Beltrami and Besnati, whose shop at Via Santa Margherita 5 stood between La Scala and the Galleria. In 1919 he opened his own business there. Stores followed in Rome and Florence, and later in the U.S. After Mario's death in 1965, four of his five sons ran the firm.
One son, Gianmaria, launched his own brand in 1971, and for decades the Mario Buccellati and Gianmaria Buccellati businesses traded separately. In 2011 they were merged into Buccellati Holding Italia. An investment fund took a majority of the company in 2013, China's Gansu Gangtai Holding Group bought a controlling 85 percent in December 2016, and in September 2019, the house's centenary year, Richemont acquired all of it.
Gianmaria Buccellati summed up the house's working method in a line Buccellati still quotes: 'I make a design so that a craftsperson can make it; it is the heart of the creation.' The pieces are made by craftspeople who have worked alongside the family for generations, each taking care of a particular stage of production.
Opera: the logo becomes the jewel
On July 6, 2015, Buccellati launched its Opera collection at the Hotel Salomon de Rothschild in Paris, with an advertising campaign shot by Peter Lindbergh featuring the actress Elisa Sednaoui. The collection took its inspiration from the Buccellati logo, with its fine winding lines and balanced shapes, and from Renaissance and Venetian architecture. Its name nods to the great Italian composers and to La Scala, the theater next to Mario's first shop.
A 2025 magazine retrospective called Opera a turning point: the first time Buccellati distilled its brand symbol into a complete jewelry line. It describes the emblem as a stylized four-petaled rosette inspired by the architectural rosettes of rose windows and carved facades, and splits the family into three expressions: Opera Gold, Opera Full Pavé and Opera Tulle, which it calls perhaps the most quintessentially Buccellati.
Another magazine dates the Opera Tulle line's debut to 2017. Buccellati's own description says the logo element becomes the true protagonist of the collection, while the tulle decoration, one of the house's signatures, brings an iconic touch.
The mother-of-pearl ring
This entry is the big-motif Opera Tulle ring in 18k yellow gold with mother-of-pearl, reference JAURIN017827. Buccellati lists one mother-of-pearl as the stone and offers the ring in sizes 49 through 55.
The same ring exists in several dresses. In October 2026 Buccellati's U.S. site listed the yellow gold ring with mother-of-pearl at $4,700 before sales tax, a pink gold version with onyx at $4,700, a yellow gold version with onyx at $4,800, yellow gold versions with red or green enamel backgrounds at $4,400, and a yellow and white gold version at $7,600.
The wider Opera Tulle line runs to rings, sautoirs, bangles, flexible bracelets, earrings and pendants, set with onyx, mother-of-pearl or colored enamel, or left plain, and each piece is offered with or without diamonds. The enamel versions are fired after layers of enamel are applied to the gold, giving an almost lacquered finish.
Why the tulle matters
Buccellati counts tulle among its five main techniques, alongside engraving, enchaining, lace and twisted thread. Its engravings, such as rigato, with parallel lines that give gold a silky sheen, are the signature of the Macri line; tulle is the signature of Opera Tulle.
The same openwork appears at the top of the house's output: Buccellati points to tiaras made with tulle, such as a white gold and diamond tiara designed by Andrea Buccellati in 2017. On the Opera Tulle ring the technique Mario made famous is applied to a single everyday ring, framed by the house's own emblem.
The numbers
- Metal
- 18k yellow gold, 750/1000
- Stone
- 1 mother-of-pearl
- Reference
- JAURIN017827
- Motif
- Big motif, raggiera (sunburst) tulle with gold rosette
- Sizes offered
- 49, 50, 51, 52, 53, 54, 55
- Collection launch
- Opera 2015; Opera Tulle 2017
Timeline
Mario Buccellati opens his first business in Milan, near La Scala.
Mario Buccellati dies; four of his five sons take over the firm.
Gianmaria Buccellati launches his own brand.
The Mario Buccellati and Gianmaria Buccellati businesses merge into Buccellati Holding Italia.
An investment fund takes a majority stake in the company.
Buccellati launches the Opera collection, inspired by its logo, in Paris.
Gansu Gangtai Holding Group buys a controlling 85 percent of Buccellati.
The Opera Tulle line debuts.
Andrea Buccellati designs a white gold and diamond tulle tiara.
Richemont acquires 100 percent of Buccellati in the house's centenary year.
The yellow gold Opera Tulle ring with mother-of-pearl, JAURIN017827, lists at $4,700 before tax in the U.S.
The world in 2017
Donald Trump is inaugurated; millions join Women's Marches worldwide.
The United Kingdom triggers Article 50, starting Brexit negotiations.
Emmanuel Macron wins the French presidential election.
The U.S. announces it will withdraw from the Paris climate agreement.
A total solar eclipse crosses the United States.
Leonardo da Vinci's Salvator Mundi sells for $450 million at auction in New York.
Price record
| Date | Price | Kind |
|---|---|---|
| Oct 2026 | $4,700 | Asking price, not a saleMaker's U.S. price, excluding sales tax, for the big-motif Opera Tulle ring in yellow gold with mother-of-pearl, ref. JAURIN017827. |
This is an asking price, not a sale. It is what a seller wanted on the date shown. Asking prices often sit above what buyers pay, but an ask is not a ceiling: a sale can land on either side of it. It is not a value.
By reference price, Buccellati Opera Tulle Ring (18k gold + mother-of-pearl) is number 86 of 100 in the jewelry entries of the FLOAT 100. 44 of those 100 rest on a realized sale; the rest carry an asking price or a guide value, and each page says which. Rank within the FLOAT 100 itself (98 here) is editorial: how much an object defines its field, not price alone.
Did you know
- Each cell of Buccellati tulle is reworked with a hand saw at least five times.
- Mario Buccellati's tulle was inspired by Venetian lace.
- Opera was the first time Buccellati turned its own emblem into a full jewelry line.
- The collection's name nods to La Scala, the theater beside Mario Buccellati's first shop.
- The Opera launch campaign was shot by the fashion photographer Peter Lindbergh.
- For decades two separate Buccellati businesses, run by different branches of the family, used the name before merging in 2011.
How this page is made
- The figure
- One reference price, shown with its own kind. FLOAT does not average it with anything or adjust it for time.
- Realized or not
- A realized price is a completed sale. An asking price, an estimate and a price-guide value are not sales, and are labeled as such wherever they appear.
- The story
- Researched from published records and checked fact by fact. Updated Oct 3, 2026.
- Archive
- Oct 5, 2026