Tile, 6 x 6 inches. Brown transfer. This pattern was registered on 8 November 1881 and is part of a series produced by T. & R. Boote. Although the designer is unknown, the firm employed Kate Greenaway to design their ‘Seasons’ series of four tiles, which were registered 19 April 1881, and this series of four known tiles is in the same style and was registered the same year, indicating the same designer produced both series. This pattern features a central square with an image of three small children seated at a table with bowls and spoons. The child to the right is slurping straight from the bowl and the child seen from the back is tied to a high chair. The border consists of four, off-set rectangles. The top and bottom are filled with a horizontal flowering prunus branch. The left consists of a large potted sunflower superimposed over a sheet of spirals and the right consists of a potted lily superimposed over the same sheet of spirals.

T. & R. Boote was founded in 1842 by Thomas Latham Boote and Richard Boote, who rented the 3-bottle oven Central Pottery in Burslem. Later the business moved to the Kilncroft Works and then around 1850 took over the Waterloo Pottery from Thomas Edwards. At some time, Edward Barker and John Mare Harrison were partners in the business, but they left the partnership in 1861. Thomas Latham Boote retired in September 1879 and the business was continued by Richard Boote with the help of the sons. In 1891 Richard Boote died. In 1894 the business became a limited liability company.