This print, engraved by Thomas Major and dedicated to his patron, the royal physician Richard Mead, reproduces a painting by David Teniers II. This copy of the print has been hand-colored. An elderly, finely-dressed alchemist uses a pair of hand-bellows to heat the coals beneath his distillation apparatus. Seated before a furnace, he is surrounded by open books, pans, flasks, and earthenware vessels. Behind him a pair of assistants work with a mortar and pestle at a table, while a third man looks on from a window above. The shop appears orderly and productive.