This ring and its pair were acquired by the V&A from the Royal Collection of Art Degree Exhibition 'Explosion'. Mary Lloyd was born in Islay, Scotland in 1951 and studied at the Glasgow School of Art from 1970-74. She went on to study at the Royal College of Art Jewellery School in London, an important centre for contemporary jewellery in the UK. She studied under Professor Gerald Benney, one of the leading figures in silversmithing, and specialised in low relief carving. She won the Princess of Wales Scholarship, an award for the most promising female student in 1974 along with the College travelling scholarship. She was also awarded the Goldsmiths Hall Award and the Johnson Matthey Metals Badge of Office in 1974. She exhibited at the Design Centre in 1974 and at the London Goldsmiths Hall in 1975.

According to Geoff Rayner of London's Target Gallery, Mary Lloyd gave up jewellery when ivory carving was banned in the late 1970s and became a furniture designer.

The two rings are made of smoothly polished hoops of blued steel set with gold medallions of serene faces - one in which the eyes are open and the other closed.