A c.15m2 classically French antique ceramic with double borders

Reclaimed from the entrance hall of a renovation in the village of Priez, Aisne, Hautes-de-France a quality period ceramic with its same size borders, originally laid in duplicate, back-to-back.

A 15cm sq classical cross themed field tile and fluid same size borders taking from the same palette, both are easily recognisable as French in design. The tiles were manufactured in the early part of the 20th century by Fabriques de Produits Ceramiques de Maubeuge, Douzies Maubeuge and we include in the photo gallery a scan of the tiles from their original catalogue. 

We have recovered all four external border corner tiles but only three of the internal border corners, but these can easily be mitre cut by a tiler from the regular borders.

The floor has restored well revealing a good ceramic, +15mm thick, consistent colours and but a handful of groutable chips and a pleasing patina. The photographs in the gallery are of a randomly selected section of around 1m2 of the floor.

Tile quantities, give or take one or two:-

FIELD  – 380 tiles – 8.6m2 / 92 sq ft

LARGE BORDERS - 275 tiles plus 8 corners – 6.4m2 / 69 sq ft. – 42.4 linear metres / 139 linear ft*.

*Halve the length for a back to back border lay.

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.