Rod Edwards (born Sydney, 1921) studied sculpture and design at the East Sydney Technical College, now the National Art School. He moved to England in 1954 where he was apprenticed as a jeweller and received a thorough technical education. After working at the costume jewellery company Corocraft from 1954-60, he went into business on his own account, working on private commissions.

He was represented at the ground-breaking International Exhibition of Modern Jewellery 1890-1961, organised by Graham Hughes in 1961 at Goldsmiths Hall, which was the beginning of a new appreciation of modern jewellery design. His work is in the collection of the Worshipful Company of Goldsmiths, the National Museums of Scotland and the Powerhouse Museum in Sydney. His training in sculpture combined with a profound knowledge of jewellery techniques produced elegant, modernist jewellery, exploiting the reflective surface of the metal and the glow of cabochon gemstones. This comparatively large ring is given a sculptural quality by the arcading supporting the stone, saw-pierced by hand and inspired by the architecture of Venice which he visited with his wife.

A detailed explanation of how to make the colonnade is given in Rod Edward’s substantial manual for goldsmiths 'The Technique of Jewellery' which he published in 1977, with line drawings and design by his wife, the illustrator Virginia Smith. Although debilitating depression limited his career as a jeweller, he was an active and popular lecturer in jewellery at the Camden Institute . 'The Technique of Jewellery' was reprinted several times: this ring was the cover illustration of the 1987 paperback edition.

Rod Edwards gave the ring to his wife Virginia, who chose it as a fine example of his work.