A small French ceramic floor with four borders - 6m2+ / 65 sq ft.

A small c.6m2 / 65 sq ft. antique French ceramic floor of 14cm square tiles and half size borders, produced by Compagnie Francaise Mosaique Ceramique de Maubeuge at their factory in Montplaisir in the early part of the twentieth century. We include in the gallery scans from the original catalogue presenting the tiles.

The principal field tile is bold, strongly geometric in its tessellation and the colours crisp and vibrant. Now fully restored to its original beauty it arrives ready to relay.

The main field tile is framed by four borders; a same size border taking from the principal field tiles palette and two half sized borders, one exquisitely butterfly themed and the other having an almost hand painted quality and laid in duplicate.

In excellent condition, a small number of tiles display small chips or edge nibbles, all groutable and a charming statement of an antique patina. We have included photographs in the gallery showing two large border corner tile options, one using the main field tile and another one of the four large border corner tiles recovered with the floor.

Tile quantities, give or take one or two:-

FIELD - 130 tiles - 2.54m2 / 27.4 sq ft.

LARGE BORDERS - 60 tiles plus 4 corners - 1.25m2 / 13.5 sq. ft. or 9 linear metres / 29.4 linear ft.

YELLOW HALF BORDERS - 150 tiles - 1.47m2 / 15.8 sq ft. or 21 linear metres / 68.9 linear ft.

BUTTERFLY HALF BORDERS - 70 - tiles - 0.69m2 / 7.4 sq. ft. or 9.9 linear metres / 32 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.