RARE - 8m2+ Handmade antique Boulenger floor - late 19th century

A small, rare, handmade ceramic floor consisting of two main field tiles; an ornate black motif tile breaking an interlocking burnt red tile. There are a small number of border tiles available, sufficient to make a centralised feature or small vertical run (we have included a photograph below of another Boulenger floor which has used this border tile as an internal frame so you can see its appeal). The floor has been reclaimed from the kitchen of a town house in Clermont, a commune of some 10,500 in the Oise department of Picardie, northern France.

The tiles are 2 cm thick and were produced by the internationally accredited ceramic house of Boulenger Auneuil, near Beauvais, between the years of 1885 and 1890. Although Boulenger are now no longer trading, the tiles were produced in a factory which is still standing and now used on a very small scale to make stoneware pots fired in an old climbing kiln. The factory is still covered in original tiles, many of which are similar to these for sale and the company donated a Museum to the village, which is also covered completely in encaustic tiles (see photos below). The tiles were highly fired and were handmade in pairs, separated by strips of clay and these were then broken apart after firing, leaving two jagged stripes across the backs. Three colours are typically dominant in Boulenger tiles both by creative preference and owing to the types of clays used; a yellow ochre, 'bulls blood' (‘sang de boeuf’ in French) and black.

The tiles are in good condition displaying a rich patina. Some tiles are bearing the occasional chips and edge nibbles expected of a floor well over 120 yrs old but the floor has cleaned well of its old mortar and engrained dirt as a random 1m2 sample of the floor shows in the photographs. Available also are a substantial number of tiles with larger chips as well as triangle cuts should you wish to lay the floor at an angle to walls instead of square. In our opinion, the majority of these can simply be laid into the floor with the chips grouted in but they are all good for a minimum of a half tile and are supplied free for you to use at your discretion. Being a highly fired tile they can be laid inside the home or outside, for example on a garden path, as a patio feature, in a summer house or conservatory...

Tile quantities:-

Black motif - 185 (3.6m2 /39 sq ft.)
Red motif - 175 (3.4m2 /37 sq ft.)
Border tile - 30 (0.6m2 / 6.3 sq ft) or 4.2 linear metres / 13.8 linear ft.

Free Tiles:-*

Black motif - 52 (0.5m2 / 5.4 sq ft)
Red motif - 35 (0.7m2 / 7.5 sq ft)
Border tile - 11 (0.2m2 / 2.4 sq. ft)

Border tile rejects for mitre cutting border corners - 10 tiles
Plus c.25 red triangle tiles (cuts of the red motif tile)

* the surface area for the free black and red tiles is calculated on the tile being cut to a half tile.