single late 19th century american victorian era fireplace portrait tile featuring shakespearean character hamlet. the c. 1880's interior residential portait tiles were fabricated by the united states encaustic tile co., indianapolis, in., manufacturers of plain, encaustic, majolica, enameled & glazed tiles. the design is attributed to modeler ruth m. winterbotham. the name of the costumed shakespearean character appears vertically, directly in front of face. the tile measures 6 x 6 inches.