Nouveau Livre de Desseins contenant les Ouvrages de la Joaillerie inventes et dessines par L. van der Cruycen en 1770, No. 9

Rectangular sheet of paper containing an engraving with a design for a corset ornament and two designs for bouquet brooches that forms the ninth 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 plate contains a design for an impressive corset ornament made of thin interlacing garlands of leaves, flowers and ribbon festoons, decorated with small knots from which pear-shaped motifs hang. The middle of the ornament contains a large knot, from which a larger pear-shaped motif hangs, framed by a garland of flowers and leaves, interlaced by a string of bullet-shaped pearls, from which a tassel motif hangs tied by a ribbon bowknot. The tassels consist of alternating strings of flowers and bullet-shape pearls. The corset design also presents two alternatives of design: the left half containing an undulating garland of leaves and flowers that interlaces with a ribbon festoon, and the right half containing an undulating string of bullet-shaped pearls that interlaces with the festoon to frame a garland of flowers, flower buds and leaves. This illustrates the effectiveness of designers in the presentation of their products, as this type of design would have allowed the consumer or the goldsmith to see two variations of a design without having to use two separate sheets of paper for it.
The two designs for brooches are made up of a large bundle of flowers and leaves, and could be worn either as a bodice decoration or as a hair accessory. One of the brooches contains a bundle with a large flower and branches of smaller flowers and leaves that are held together by a ribbon bowknot. The other is made up of a bundle with a large flower, a branch with smaller flowers and leaves, two large feathers, and a palmette motif decorated with strings of tiny pearls.