This piece is part of the Royal College of Art Visiting Artists Collection. Every year from 1987 to 2006, while David Watkins was Professor of Goldsmithing, Silversmithing, Metalwork and Jewellery at the RCA, he invited four jewellers and silversmiths from outside Britain to give a week-long masterclass. The artists brought diverse skills, aesthetics and approaches. The first call on their time was to interact closely with the students. In addition, although concentrating on their teaching and working in an unfamiliar studio, each artist generously made an object for the RCA's collection. The Royal College of Art Visiting Artists Collection, now transferred to the V&A, is a major document of international contemporary jewellery, a tribute both to the artists and to the vibrancy of the RCA as a teaching institution.

In avant-garde jewellery, the necklace has experienced a complete makeover. Conventions have been broken and scale is no longer a constraint. Emphasis is given more to animation and the interaction with the body, but most of all to expressiveness.

Annelies Planteydt's necklace is a study, exploring new ideas for her work, rather than a finished piece. It is made of flexible metal links with designs that hang down both front and back. She explains that it has been conceived as a groundplan, a room with two completely different views - as can be seen when it is laid out flat. Held in the hand or worn on the body, it is transformed into various abstract compositions.

In an exhibition catalogue with similar neckpieces from her collection 'Beautiful City' and 'Rooms', she stated: "Just like the pearl necklaces, each of the present necklaces can be worn in a variety of ways, each forming a different composition. Wearing it is not the only way of revealing the layering of the work. Each necklace is made of flexible, three dimensional links and assumes a different form just by holding it. The material is also layered; there is a front and back. In order to appreciate all the features, the necklaces need not only be worn but also to be seen and held as well."

Planteijdt studied at the Vakschool Schoonhoven and Gerrit Rietveld Academie in Amsterdam. Her early work consisted of necklaces and bracelets made of angular cardboard elements. Later she returned to gold and silver using undulating forms and wires. Movement of a piece and the flexibility of repetitious ornament are themes in her jewellery.