Ornate antique Societe Amay period ceramic - 10.75m2

One of two floors reclaimed from the same house in southern Belgium, an impressively detailed ceramic floor comprising of five different tiles. 

The floor was manufactured in the early twentieth century by Societe Anonyme AMAY, Belgique and we include in the photo gallery some scans of the various tile from their original period catalogue.

The principal part of the floor comprises of panels of four field tiles framed by twin framing tiles, themselves keyed by a corner tile. The whole floor is framed by a same size border tile and a half size border.

The palette is burgundy, leaf green, sky blue with vieux rose, grey and white evident. Owing to the tiles having been hand produced there is some tonal variation in colours as evidenced in the photographs of a random section of the complete floor.

The surface area of the floor is c.10.75m2+ / 114 sq. ft+. 

All of the tiles are 14cm square, with the exception of the half size borders, which are 14cm x 7cm.

Arriving ready to relay, the condition of these 15mm thick tiles is excellent; there are occasional small chips and edge nibbles on a small number of tiles, all grout-able, but each tile has been individually quality controlled both during the removal of the old mortar, grout, surface dirt and waxes during the restoration process. The high resolution photographs are a randomly selected section of c.1.5m2 / 15 sq. ft of the total floor. Being a highly fired tile they can be laid inside or outside of the home and the tiles will also work very efficiently with underfloor heating systems.

We would be happy, without obligation, to provide advice on the potential layout of the floor based on your providing a simple sketch with key dimensions.

Tile quantities, give or take one or two:-

Field tiles -  150 tiles – 3m2 /  32.3 sq. ft

Internal Frame tiles - 198 tiles - 4m2 / 43 sq. ft

Internal Frame corner tiles - 54 tiles - 1m2 / 10.7sq. ft

Large Borders - 94 tiles (plus 4 corners) –1.92m2 /  20.7sq.ft or 13.7 linear metres or 45 linear ft

Small Borders - 92 tiles (plus 4 corners) - 0.9m2 / 10 sq ft. or 13.3 linear metres or 43.5 linear ft

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.