Rare Shakespeare Ages of Man Tile • Condition: Excellent • Price: £140 (approx $183) • Stock number: 03353 UK Special Delivery £150 EU Priority £154 US and World Priority £158 Currency Converter Ask a question Minute rim chips/roughness, light surface marks (light line upper right is a printing flaw).   • Style: Pictorial (literary) • Technique: Transfer print • Maker: T & R Boote • Dimensions: 6" x 6" • Date: design registered 1883   A tile from a most excellent and quite rare series and one of few pictorial series by Boote which are surprisingly good especially compared to the majority of Mintons and Wedgwood series this series being particularly excellent with complex views and fine engraving. The theme for the series is The Seven Ages of Man by William Shakespeare and the tiles are nicely printed in brown on light buff clay which is lightly speckled with brown clay in the arts & crafts manner. The tile filled out with gothic/aesthetic designs to the corners and the ever present sun, moon and star symbols of night and day to indicate the passge of time. The Seven Ages of Man are taken from one of Shakepeare's most quoted poems, from the play As You Like It which starts with the famous phrase, "All the world's a stage".........   All the world's a stage, And all the men and women merely players; They have their exits and their entrances; And one man in his time plays many parts, His acts being seven ages. At first the infant, Mewling and puking in the nurse's arms; And then the whining school-boy, with his satchel And shining morning face, creeping like snail Unwillingly to school. And then the lover, Sighing like furnace, with a woeful ballad Made to his mistress' eyebrow. Then a soldier, Full of strange oaths, and bearded like the pard, Jealous in honour, sudden and quick in quarrel, Seeking the bubble reputation Even in the cannon's mouth. And then the justice, In fair round belly with good capon lin'd, With eyes severe and beard of formal cut, Full of wise saws and modern instances; And so he plays his part. The sixth age shifts Into the lean and slipper'd pantaloon, With spectacles on nose and pouch on side; His youthful hose, well sav'd, a world too wide For his shrunk shank; and his big manly voice, Turning again toward childish treble, pipes And whistles in his sound. Last scene of all, That ends this strange eventful history, Is second childishness and mere oblivion; Sans teeth, sans eyes, sans taste, sans everything.   Verso very clean with excellently clear printed registration lozenge mark.   Information Tiles For Sale Contacts Order Information