11.5m2 French Douzies Maubeuge triple border ceramic - early 20th century

One of two impressively detailed and fine quality ceramics reclaimed from a property renovation in Trelon, France, close to the Belgian border. The floors in question, both handmade in small batches, were manufactured in the early twentieth century by Fabrique Produits Ceramiques de Maubeuge, Douzies Maubeuge, France. 

The total surface area of the floor is c.11.5m2 / 124 sq ft.

The floors configuration is of a principal field tile, the motif of which opens up across a four tile tessellation, framed by a triple border series of a same size border tile top and tailed by a half size border. The palette is cool in greens, amber and white and the tiles are 15cm square, 15mm thick with the half sized borders 15cm x 7.5cm.

The floor has restored well and the tiles are in excellent condition as a random 1.2m2 section of the floor in the photo gallery shows. The ceramic is excellent and the slip consistent. We also include in the gallery some photographs of the floor pre-lifting and transporting to our workshop for their restoration as well as some scans from the period Douzies Maubeuge catalogue showing some of the tiles.

The second, and smaller floor, reclaimed from the same property can be seen if you click here.

Tile quantities by tile type:-

Field tiles - 380 - 8.6m2 / 92 sq.ft.

Large borders - 59 plus 2 corners - 1.4m2 / 14.8 sq. ft or 9.2 linear metres / 30 linear feet.

Small borders - 133 plus 6 corners - 1.5m2 /  16.5sq. ft or 20.4 linear metres / 66.9 linear feet.

NOTE
Antique tiles were most commonly made in single or two tile moulds. Before current computer automation methods their moulds were made my hand and the colour slips mixed by eye. Kiln temperatures could also be variable, as could the firing time. The result is that often tiles display subtle size and thickness variations and there can be tonal variations in colours, owing to the slip mixing and/or firing time. All of this makes these handmade tiles unique and adds to their charm. Some floors display their subtle variations in size and tones, some not, but when photographing we always take a random section of the floor so that it is representative of the whole. A tiler should always dry lay a section of the tiles to familiarise himself with them before starting to fix lay.