A small 8m2 handmade Boulenger floor - late 1860's

A rare find, a handmade late 19th century Societe Anonyme de Produits Ceramiques BOULENGER, Auneuil gres cerame floor in a palette of sang de boeuf and ochre.

Consisting of unicolour and motif field tiles framed by a scroll themed border tile they are all 14cm sq and 15mm thick. There are no border corner tiles with the floor but if they are required they can easily be mitre cut from the regular borders and we have provided a simulation of this.

The floor totals 8m2 / 86 sq ft.

The design and palette are immediately recognisable as Boulenger as they principally worked in three colours namely black, ochre and sang de boeuf and scans from their original period catalogue presenting the tiles are in the gallery.

Individually handmade in small batches they were often signed on their side by the worker, after which they were then highly fired having been loaded into the kiln standing back to back with two strips of metal paper separating the pairs. Once fired and cooled the metal strips were then pulled apart and the tiles separated themselves. Their reverse shows where the two metal paper strips were.

This 150+ year old floor has cleaned well, revealing a rich antique patina as evidenced in the small randomly selected section of the floor we have photographed. There are some tiles bearing small chips, edge nibbles or rounding but all groutable and all adding to the floors charm and uniqueness.

We have loaded to the gallery a photograph of the Boulenger family house, decadently decorated on the facades with their own tiles. They clearly believed in taking their work home! As well as gracing churches and state buildings in the late 19th century, famous clients included Claude Monet, who’s flooring at his home in Giverny is only Boulenger floors or parquet. Some photos are in the gallery.

Boulenger tiles were made from Gres Cerame, or Stoneware in English, a clay which has a surface porosity that means they should be sealed once laid. Sealant is a low cost, clear, easy to apply product. It should be applied after the tiles have been laid and the grout has dried and it does not change the aspect of the tile but simply protects it, making cleaning off any dirt or stains easy work with a regular mopping or tile cleaning machine. Each sealant coat will last a minimum of five years.

We have two other Boulenger floors available which can be seen if you click here and here.

Tile quantities:-

Sang de Boeuf unicolour tiles - 175 tiles - 3.4m2 / 37 sq ft.

Motif tiles - 175 tiles - 3.4m2 / 37 sq ft.

Border tiles - 64 tiles - 1.25m2 / 13.4 sq ft. - 9 linear metres / 29.4 linear ft.

Plus c.1m2 of free reject tiles for use as offcuts.