Souvenir figures such as this became popular in the 1920s, apparently after a set representing dancers with Diaghilev's Ballets Russes Company were issued by Cyril Beaumont. He had the idea in about 1914 to produce them from artwork representing the dancers in costume, hoping they would: 'supply the demand for something between a photograph and a statuette'. A 1928 catalogue of Beaumont's publications notes: 'The figures, which are of wood, average 8¾ inches high, and are hand-coloured with special care to ensure accuracy of costume. The black stands on which the figures are mounted are easily removable to afford facility in packing. The figures are priced at 7s.6d. net.'

This figure of Bertha Lewis is one of several representing singers in roles they played with D'Oyly Carte Opera Company productions in its 1921 to 1922 season at London's Princes Theatre. They were reproduced from photographs and would have been issued in 1922 by the Artograph Technical and Photographic Company, located at 16, Grape Street, New Oxford Street, behind the Princes Theatre.

Bertha Lewis has been credited as the greatest contralto who ever worked with the D'Oyly Carte Opera Company. Born in London, she studied music at London's Royal Academy of Music before joining the Principal Repertory Company aged nineteen in August 1905, playing Kate in The Pirates of Penzance, Saphir in Patience, Leila in Iolanthe and Vittoria in The Gondoliers. In July 1909 she replaced Ethel Morrison as principal contralto but left in 1910 when she married and toured the country appearing in concerts and opera. She rejoined the D'Oyly Carte in December 1914 and stayed with them until her death at the age of thirty three, on 8th May 1931 in a car accident near Cambridge where the company was appearing.