The lady holds a book with ribbon untied indicating that she has been reading. She wears a small-brimmed phrygian-style cap which is both conical and soft to the feel. In antiquity, the soft conical Phrygian cap was associated with several peoples in E. Europe and Anatolia, including Phrygia, Dacia and the Balkans. In early modern Europe it came to signify freedom and the pursuit of liberty. (http://books0977.tumblr.com/post/148326323132/unknown-lady-1592-robert-peake-the-elder)