Louis C. Tiffany, already a master of many media, began making jewelry shortly after 1900. While designers at his father's firm, Tiffany and Company, utilized primarily pearls, diamonds, and other precious stones, Louis's work was more closely aligned with that of the avant-garde Parisian jewelers René Lalique and Georges Fouquet, and, like them, he favored the common forms in nature as well as semiprecious stones and enamel. The opals, garnets, and enamel on this piece provide a subtle interplay of light and color. As is consistent with Tiffany's earliest handwrought designs—inspired by field flowers and fruits—this hair ornament is based on the wild carrot, or Queen Anne's lace.

Tiffany first exhibited his jewelry to the public in 1904 at the Louisiana Purchase Exposition in St. Louis. Three ornaments of Queen Anne's lace, each representing the blossom at a different stage, were among the twenty-seven works that he displayed. This example, with its slightly domed blossom head, was the one cited in the contemporary press as being in "the full perfection of bloom" and was considered the most brilliant of the three. It descended in the family of the original owner, Ida E. B. Noyes (Mrs. LaVerne Noyes, d. 1912), a noted Chicago philanthropist, who probably purchased it at the 1904 fair.