Nouveau Livre de Desseins contenant les Ouvrages de la Joaillerie inventes et dessines par L. van der Cruycen en 1770, No. 10

Rectangular sheet of paper containing an engraving with a design for a necklace and six designs for small brooches that forms the tenth page for a book of jewelry designs invented and created by L. van der Cruycen in 1770. The book, titled "Nouveau Livre de Desseins contenant les Ouvrages de la Joaillerie..." (New Book of Designs containing the Jewelry Works), contains a series of jewelry designs displaying a serendipitous flavor, with asymmetrical forms, "rocaille" and stylized natural motifs, and heavily decorated with flowers, ribbons and tassels, thus representing the taste of the Rococo style, which was fashionable in France and Europe during the eighteenth century. The designs present elaborately carved forms that were particularly sought after during the third quarter of the eighteenth century, which were to be accomplished by skilled artisans who would work out the decorations by hand. The use of various categories of jewelry design in one single sheet suggests an economical use of space for the publication of the book, which was probably intended for distribution among goldsmiths and silversmiths that would reproduce the objects from the drawings. It is also likely that many of the designs are real-sized.
The design for a necklace contains two large ribbon bows, one on the upper part of the design, and the other on the bottom, and presents two different alternatives for the design. On the left half, the body of necklace is made up of five knots of ribbon that form rosette motifs that are placed together. On the right half, the body of the neckace is made up of a thick garland of leaves, flowers and flower buds decorated with an interlacing ribbon. Four of the small designs for brooches contain naturalistic motifs made up of small flowers and branches of leaves. One of them contains a cornucopia, and one of them is adorned by an interlacing string of pearls. Of the remaining brooches, one of these brooches is made up of a ribbon that is tied to form a rosette, and the other is a U-shaped motif designed to look like its surface was achieved by interlacing a ribbon around the shape.