T. & R. BOOTE HAND-PAINTED AESTHETIC MOVEMENT TILES

13 tiles, each 6” X 6”, one marked “T. & R. Boote, Burslem,” all marked with hand-painted red “272”

The T. & R. Boote pottery was founded 1842 by Thomas Latham Boote and Richard Boote at the Central Pottery, Burslem. They manufacturered parian statuary and vases. Tiles and ‘Granite’ earthenware were made from about 1850. When T. L. Boote retired in September 1879, the business was continued by Richard Boote (d.1891) with the help of his sons. The Bootes disputed with Copelands and Mintons the invention of Parian.

The Boote tile company was best known for the “pressed-dust” manufacturing process they patented, which allowed them to produce vast numbers of utilitarian tiles, but they also showed their version of Parian ware at London’s Great Exhibition of 1851. These tiles were previously installed in a Second Empire-style house near Boston, Massachusetts. Each tile has a different hand-enameled crane disporting among gold and silver luster aquatic plants painted in the Japanesque manner popularized by Aesthetic Movement luminaries like James Whistler, Oscar Wilde, and Christopher Dresser.