A 11m2 / 118 sq ft antique Belgian faux-mosaique themed floor

One of three floors reclaimed from the same period property in Tournai, Belgium, built c.1910, this ceramic encaustic floor comes with its original triple border tiles. Manufactured by Societe Anonyme AMAY (Belgique), and dating from the early twentieth century, we include a scan from their original catalogue in our photo gallery confirming its provenance. 

The design, present in both the principal field tile and the borders is of a 'faux-mosaique', which tessellates stylised floral motifs across four tiles, linked by a vieux-rose square or circle. Cornflower blue, bordeaux, mid grey and an off white can also be found in the palette. The border series; one full size border and a half size border, introduce a leaf green to the palette as well as a stronger focus on the floral styling. All four corner tiles for the large borders and eight for the small borders have been reclaimed. Faux-Mosaique was a design initially presented in the late 1800's in Belgium and became increasingly in demand in the early 20th century, experiencing a revival again in the 1920's and 1930's during the emergence and popular growth of Art Deco styling. Its principal was to create a visual illusion that a floor had been laid of tens of thousands of mosaic pieces when, in reality, the tiles are in fact sold single ceramics. In this instance, 14cm / 5.5 inches sq and 15mm / 0.6 inches sq. 

The total surface area is 11m2 / 118 sq. ft.

The floor has been fully restored to its original beauty and arrives ready to re-lay; colours are crisp and vibrant and the ceramic is excellent. A small number of tiles have edge nibbles and groutable chips but each tile has been individually cleaned of its old mortar and wax. Being a highly fired tile they can be laid most effectively with underfloor heating systems or, optionally, outside of the home in a conservatory, summer house, as a garden path or on a patio where sub-zero temperatures will not affect the tile.

The high resolution photographs in the gallery are of a random c.1.5m2 / 15 sq ft section of the floor, representative of the whole.

Tile quantities, give or take one or two:-

FIELD tiles - 420 – 8.25m2 / 88.6 sq. ft

LARGE border tiles - 79 plus 4 corners – 1.6m2 / 17.5 sq.ft or 11.6 linear metres or 38.1 linear ft

HALF SIZE border tiles - 112 plus 4 corners – 1.1m2 / 11.8 sq.ft or 15.7 linear metres or 51.5 linear ft

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