Joaillerie: Album of Jewelry Designs, Page 4

Joaillerie: Album of Jewelry Designs, Page 4

Anonymous, French

An item at Metropolitan Museum of Art

Fourth 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. The designs in this page are one aigrette, two small brooches and one drop earring, 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. The design for an aigrette contains a hat motif decorated with small flowers, two large feathers, and a palmette decorated with a thin horizontal garland of small leaves with a small rosette. , and the other three contain bowknots of different styles. The drop earring consists of two rosettes made up of round motifs and a teardrop joined together by a bundle of small flowers and leaves. The designs for brooches both contain naturalistic motifs: one of them has a cornucopia from which a bundle of leaves, flowers and fruits emerges, and the other is a small U-shaped garland of leaves and flowers. The designs in this drawing are copies after plates number 4 and 10 of the album of engravings by Van der Cruycen. Plate no. 4 has the design for an aigrette and for a drop earring, and plate no. 10 has the designs for the two brooches.

Drawings and Prints

An exhibit at Metropolitan Museum of Art

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