Portraits of Hippocrates.

DESCRIPTION OF WELLCOME TILE* The tile is an elongated octagon in shape. It has a blue tinted glaze, and bright blue decoration with the motto in maroon. The sides of the tile are chamfered, and the glaze on the back is in irregular patches. The design of the Society of Apothecaries' Arms-with ribbon-like scrollwork to the sides of Apollo, who has an unusual 'Red Indian' headdress-is quite distinct from the common versions of the Arms on such tiles. The Fitzwilliam Museum tile has exactly the same dimensions as the Wellcome tile (30 x 24.6 x 1.4 cms.), the Drake tile being fractionally smaller (29.8 x 24.1 x 1.4 cms.). Both tiles have the blue tinted glaze, unusual chamfered edge, and the partially glazed back characteristic of the Wellcome tile. The motto on the Fitzwilliam tile is in maroon, that on the Drake tile in black. A point of interest about the Weilcome tile is the poor quality of the decoration, there being so much disparity of detail between the left hand and right hand sides that they appear to have been drawn by different artists, possibly the work of apprentices. This is further support for the view that the tiles were not custom made (see above). Furthermore, the almost identical size and shape of the three tiles suggests an element of mass production.