A 10.75m2 antique French Maubeuge ceramic with its original borders

A ceramic encaustic floor manufactured by Produits de Ceramiques, Maubeuge, in the early twentieth century, consisting of a 15cm / 5.9 inch square field tile and its original same size border. The palette is warm, offering egg yolk yellow, green and burgundy on an off-white slip; the four tile motif is heraldic influenced in design and delivers a strong visual navigation. The stylising of nature in design, a common theme at the turn of the last century, is evident in the principal field tiles but especially so in the same sized grape-vine themed border tiles, proudly complimenting another area of French excellence, wine . We have only recovered one border tile corner but additional border corners can easily be mitre cut from the regular border tiles and we have shown how they will look in a mocked up computer graphic in the gallery.

The floor totals 10.75m2 / 116 sq ft.

The antique patina of the floor is beautiful, displaying subtle tonal variations, a charming statement of a unique handmade production. In addition to the high resolution photographs of a random section of the floor we have also included a scan of the presentation of the tiles in the original Douzies Maubeuge catalogue in our possession.

The floor has cleaned well of its old lime based mortar and years of ingrained dirt and wax. Arriving ready to relay, the floor is in excellent condition, good for another 100 years and a testimony to its original quality production. A highly fired tile, it can be laid inside or outside of the home, as both high summer and sub zero winter temperatures will not present a problem, and being excellent distributors of heat the tiles can be laid with underfloor heating systems.

Tile quantities (give or take one or two):-

FIELD tiles- 400 tiles - 9m2 / 97 sq ft.

LARGE BORDER tiles- 80 tiles - 1.8m2 / 19.4sq ft or 12 linear metres / 39.4 linear feet

NOTE Antique tiles were most commonly made in single or two tile moulds. Before current computer automation methods their moulds were made by 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.