Chequers Ring

The bezel is hinged to form a locket. Two women are depicted in the secret compartment.[3] Elizabeth is the older one, portrayed in an enamel cameo on the leaf of the jewel inset with a ruby. On the shank of the jewel there is a portrait miniature of a young woman dating from c. 1535–1545. It is made of layers of enamel in an imitation of a cameo. There is a small diamond at the woman's breast.[1]

Due to her portrait's juxtaposition with the cameo of Elizabeth, the younger woman has traditionally been identified as Anne Boleyn, Elizabeth's mother, who was executed when Elizabeth was two years old.[1] Elizabeth mentioned Anne very rarely, and the ring is sometimes claimed to be the evidence of her affection for the memory of her mother,[4] or said to have reminded Elizabeth to be more prudent in politics than her mother.[3]

The identification of the younger woman as Anne Boleyn has been challenged, however. The red-gold hair of the woman in the portrait does not fit modern conceptions of Anne Boleyn, now widely conceived as bearing black hair, but this description is due to sources generally deemed historically unreliable -- Sanders, and a variety of portraiture none of which can be said with certainty to depict the Queen as she was in life ; much of which was painted by people who had never seen her, and all of which has suffered degredation due to oxidation and contamination, etc., over time.

Due to well known historical events of Boleyn's ending, it quickly became unfashionable, probably even dangerous, to exhibit or discuss authentic relics, artifacts and memories of this important figure.

Few if any other description imbues an understanding of her natural hair colour, or of her styling. We find Sir Thomas Wyatt, writing poetically of her tress .. of crisped gold.[5]

Possibly the portrait miniature depicts Catherine Parr, Elizabeth's red-haired stepmother.[4] Elizabeth was unusually close to Catherine, who was her mother figure in early adolescence. Catherine later married into the Seymour family, which would explain the phoenix symbol.[1]