15.25m2 handmade Octave Colozier floral themed ceramic floor - c.1913

An exquisitely designed and superbly detailed French floor, complete with its original border tile series, reclaimed with two other floors from a house in Fresnes-Les-Montauban in the Nord Pas de Calais department of northern France. The floor is handmade, consisting of a 14.2cm sq main field tile and border tile along with a half size border laid in duplicate. Ceramic encaustic and bearing the reverse inscription 'OC' they were produced by Carrelages Ceramiques Octave Colozier, St. Just- des-Marais (Oise) and were presented in their catalogue of 1913, a scan of which we have included below along with high resolution photographs of a random professionally cleaned section of the floor.

Now having been professionally cleaned of old lime based mortar and years of wax and dirt the design revealed is stunning in its complexity and detail and the colours as crisp as when they left the kiln 100 years ago. The floor is in very good condition, there is no surface wear, colours are consistent; a small number of tiles display groutable edge nibbles and small chips expected of a floor of this age but the ceramic is high quality and the slip deep. 

Tessellating in tiles of four around a yellow flower and ribbons bouquet theme on a white fond the design is fluid but also easily navigatable as the repeating motifs open out across a larger area. Traditionally, it is the border tiles of a period floor which are the more detailed but in this instance, while still floral themed and taking from the same palette, the single full size and two half size border tiles harmonise because of their subtle presence, giving way as they do to a more indulgent field tile. This is a unique floor and one which is crying out to be the heroine in any room; its palette is well suited to distributing light and its theme may particularly suit a conservatory, linking home to garden. On a practical level, being a highly fired tile, they can be laid inside or outside of the home (again a summer house would be well suited) and will work efficiently and effectively with underfloor heating systems.

Tile quantities, give or take one or two:-

Main field tiles - 601  12.2m2 / 130 sq ft

Large border tiles - 82 - 1.6 m2 / 17 sq ft or 11.6 linear metres / 38 linear feet

Small border tiles - 165 plus 7 corners - 1.65m2 /  17.8 sq ft or 23.4 linear metres / 76.8 linear feet