This chiselled steel and gold ring was made by François-Désiré Froment-Meurice, one of the most celebrated French jewellers of the nineteenth century. He trained under the German jeweller Wagner as a chaser and became so skilled that he was appointed orfèvre-joailler (goldsmith -jeweller) to the city of Paris. He exhibited regularly at international exhibitions, obtaining a gold medal at the French Industrial Exposition of 1844. His designs combined elements of the Gothic and Renaissance revival styles, creating very sculptural jewellery which relied on artistic design rather than costly gemstones for its appeal.

He was widely admired in his lifetime, creating work for writers and artists such as Honoré de Balzac and Théophile Gautier. Victor Hugo, the author of Les Misérables, compared him to the fabled Renaissance goldsmith Benvenuto Cellini. In a poem referencing Froment-Meurice, he compared the art of the writer with that of the chaser - both could create a flower through their skills. When Froment-Meurice died suddenly in 1855, on the eve of the Paris International Exhibition, his wife showed his works, including this ring which the V&A bought for £10.

The gold figures in the centre of the bezel represent a muse attended by two putti. The design is almost identical to one illustrated in Henri Vever's La bijouterie Française au XIX siècle, attributed to the sculptor Jean-Baptiste Klagmann and dated 1844.