Nouveau Livre de Desseins contenant les Ouvrages de la Joaillerie inventes et dessines par L. van der Cruycen en 1770, No. 7

Rectangular sheet of paper containing an engraving with designs for aigrettes, a brooch and a headpiece that forms the seventh 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 three designs for aigrettes, one design for a headpiece or diademe, and one design for a brooch. The first design for an aigrette consists of a palmette motif with tiny strings of pearls with a bowknot in the bottom and a thin garland of flowers and leaves that forms a circular shape around the palmette, the second aigrette contains a large stylized flower tied to form a bundle with stems of leaves and small flowers, and decorated with a palmette with thin strips of pearls, and the third aigrette contains a bundle of flowers and leaves with a palmette motif, tied by a bowknot of an ornamented ribbon. The diademe consists of an undulating garland of leaves, flowers and flower buds that interlaces with an undulating strip of bullet-shaped pearls, tied together by a ribbon knot on the right end of the design. The remaining brooch contains an inverted U-shaped garland made with interlacing ribbons and decorated with small flowers and leaves.