I shivered in those solitudes when I heard the voice of the salt in the desert. Pablo Neruda

{HISTORY}

A family-run enterprise that began in 1842,  this gorgeous set of floral dinner plates was made by T & R Boote in their Waterloo pottery in England between 1890-1906. Part of the Castelar pattern, these plates contain beautiful, handpainted florals in desert shades of pale salmon, beige and soft yellow with a scalloped rim that is edged in gold.

While this dish pattern itself is rare and hard to find these days, this color palette with its beautiful dusty hues and daffodil flowers is also a nice variation from more traditional rose bouquets and brighter pink and green colors found during this era. Earthy, delicate and neutral, this pattern has that lovely ability to evolve with each season whether they are a part of festive Thanksgiving dinner feasts or an elegant spring-time soiree. 

Winners of several medals at international exhibitions in the 1800s, T & R Boote (which stands for founders Thomas Lantham Boote and Richard Boote) built a worldwide reputation for their exquisite high-quality dishware designs. Not long after these dishes were made though, just after the turn of the 20th century, they abandoned the dishware manufacturing process altogether and focused solely on producing decorative tiles up until 1963 when the company was sold to another tile manufacturer. 

{SPECAL FEATURES}

- Matching set of four

- Colors include pale salmon, beige, butter yellow and gold

 - Stamped on back with maker's mark and pattern name

- Semi-porcelain 

{CONDITION}

In gorgeous antique condition. There are no chips or cracks, with the exception of one very tiny chip (less than 1/8th of an inch) on one rim on one plate.  There is lovely, delicate crazing throughout and one area of light staining on one plate that adds gorgeous time-worn character to the overall set. Please see photos.

{SIZE}

Each plate measures 10" inches in diameter and weighs just over 1lb.