Joaillerie: Album of Jewelry Designs, Page 9

Ninth page of a small album containing drawings with jewelry designs copied after the prints by L. van der Cruycen, "Nouveau Livre de Desseins..." (New Book of Designs...), published in Paris in 1770. This page contains designs for two flower brooches, a small brooch and a large corset brooch, all of them characteristic of the style in vogue during the reign of Louis XVI in France, 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 elaborately carved forms presented in the designs were particularly sought after during the third quarter of the eighteenth century, and were to be accomplished by skilled artisans who would work out the decorations by hand.
Each of the two flower brooches contains a large flower surrounded by thin garlands of leaves that scroll around the flowers to form an oval shape. The design for a small brooch is made up of a tiny bundle of flowers and leaves. The corset brooch consists of a bowknot decorated with a pearl and a large stylized flower with several layers of petals, hanging from interlacing garlands, and presents two alternatives for the interlacing garlands: on one side, a thin garland of small flowers and leaves interlacing with a string of bullet-shaped pearls; on the other, a thin garland of leaves and tiny pearls interlacing with a ribbon.
The designs in this drawing are copies after plates number 6, 8 and 11 of the album of engravings by Van der Cruycen. Plate no. 6 has the two designs for flower brooches, plate no. 8 has the design for a small brooch, and plate no. 11 has the design for a corset brooch.