Antique ceramic floor of octagons with cabochons – early 20th century

An impressive octagon tile floor recovered from the hallway of a townhouse in the historical city of Amiens, 75 miles north of Paris in the Picardie area of France. The floor design centres on alternating grey octagons tiles in light and mid grey, one bearing a fluid floral design of what appears to be a poppy head and the other a simple framed bar. Linking the two are small tile inserts, around an inch square, which are called cabochons in French. There are five different designs of cabochon for the floor and we have laid them out entirely at random within the photographs below. The floor is framed by a single square border tile, 14cm sq, of the same palette and all four corner tiles are present for the borders.

While the floral octagon tile is meant to be laid in a series of four, this is only a minimum option and the floors design lends itself to a variety of lay options and the grey bar octagon equally can be laid with its design the other way around.

The floor is in very good condition and has cleaned beautifully of its old mortar and wax. It arrives ready to relay and sealing and or waxing of the floor is an option rather than a necessity. Being ceramic the tiles will work with an under-floor heating system.

The floor totals c.15.6m2 / 168 sq ft.

Tile quantities (give or take one or two):-

Octagon floral tile – 325

Octagon bar tile – 360

Large border tile – 110 (plus all four corner tiles)

Plus cabochons – c.300

Plus off-cuts for keying