The lines of demarcation between the work of the serjeant-painters and that of other artists employed by the court sometimes needed clarification. A patent drafted in 1584, but apparently never signed, gave the serjeant-painter George Gower the monopoly of "all manner of portraits and pictures" of the Queen, "excepting only one Nicholas Hilliard, to whom it shall or may be lawful to exercise and make portraits, pictures, or proportions of our body and person in small compass in limning only" (Hilliard's monopoly was signed). At the time, Nicholas Hilliard was the leading artist in limning, the painting of portrait miniatures. This was regarded as the highest form of painting, while easel painting "in large" was still associated with interior decorating. In 1606, Hilliard seems to have trodden on the toes of the serjeant-painter John de Critz when he put himself forward to paint the tomb of Queen Elizabeth, claiming that he had "skill to make more radiant colours like unto enamels than yet is to Painters known". Hilliard reports in a letter to Robert Cecil, Lord Salisbury, that the recently appointed De Critz had reminded him that any painting of the royal tomb was "within the Serjeant's patent".