Crisp colours on an antique Douvrin floor c.16m2 / 173 sq ft.

A reclaimed and now fully restored antique ceramic French floor manufactured in the the early part of the 20th century and totalling c.16m2 / 173 sq ft.

The floor appears in the 1925 Compagnie Generale de Construction de Fours, Ceramique de Douvrin catalogue and we show scans of the tiles presentation in the photo gallery.

Two individual field tiles are present and these are framed by a same size border tile.

The floor has cleaned superbly; there are small chips and edge nibbles, all groutable, on a small number of tiles but the colours are crisp and consistent and the 15mm thick ceramic is of excellent quality.

Being a highly fired tile they can be laid inside or outside of the home.

Enquire for tile quantitites by tile type.

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.