7.5m2 Thistle themed antique ceramic - early twentieth century

A beautifully designed early art nouveau ceramic floor with its original border tiles, the floor was manufactured by La Ceramique Nationale Welkenraedt (Belgique) in the early 20th century.

The floor totals 7.5m2 / 81sq ft.

The floor comes with its original full size and half size border tiles and we show a scan in the photo gallery from the original CNW catalogue of the tiles.

The same tiles were also laid in the winter garden of the stunning art nouveau themed Ursuline Institute in OnzeLieve-Vrouw-Waver, Belgium (a link to the history of the building can be found by clicking here)

14cm square and 15mm thick with 14cm x 7cm half size borders the tiles have cleaned superbly revealing a quality ceramic good for another 100 years. A small number of tiles display edge nibbles or small chips, all groutable on what is a pleasing patina.

A unique and impressive tile, arriving ready to relay inside or outside of the home, the vegetal theme lending itself well to conservatory, patio or summer house.

Tile quantities, give or take one or two:-

FIELD - 231 tiles 

LARGE BORDER tiles - 78 tiles 

SMALL BORDER tiles - 128 tiles

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.