The large opal in this ring is carved with the figure of a woman in sixteenth century dress. The nineteenth century saw a renewed interest in the art and design of the medieval and Renaissance period, for example, the popular Medieval Court in the 1851 Great Exhibition. Jewellery inspired by the sixteenth century generally took the form of jewels copied or loosely inspired by jewellery represented in portraits, such as the jewels made by the French jeweller François Desiré Froment-Meurice, or in Britain, 'Holbein' style jewellery.

This ring does not have the ornate goldwork or enamels of a Renaissance inspired jewel but the female figure in Elizabethan dress was probably inspired by portraits or earlier cameos. It may also have been inspired by the continuing popularity of William Shakespeare's plays, seen in the Shakespeare Jubilee put on by the actor David Garrick in 1769 and the purchase of Shakespeare's family home in 1847, funded by public subscriptions. The actor and producer Charles Kean's revivals of Shakespearean plays in the 1850s were notable for their attempts at historical accuracy in staging and dress.