A large 16.25m2 / 175 sq ft Societe Rebaix ceramic floor early 20th century

Dating from the early 20th century and reclaimed from a house in renovation in Namur, Belgium, a quality handmade Belgian ceramic floor with its original triple border tile series, for which all four large border corners and eight half size border corners are available. The floors design embraces a 'faux-mosaique' floor pattern, which sought to visually convey that the surface was made up of tens of thousands of small ceramic pieces when in fact the mosaic seen is a design element on solid singular tiles. The faux mosaique design theme was introduced in the late 19th century and quickly became popular in France and Belgium. It had a renaissance again during the 1920's.

The principal area of the floor uses two separate, alternating field tiles; tile A: a cross-like motif in a burnt red and cream with yellow and sage green accents along the tile edges and tile B: a blue and white geometric motif with charcoal accents on a mid grey fond. The framing of the floor is impressive, using a same size tile in a red, yellow, and white mosaic with floral/rosette-like circular motifs and a half sized tile, laid in duplicate, of a twisting chain motif in shades of grey on a white background.

The style and characteristics of the design is Victorian / Napoleon III and was often used in European entryways or hallways. Intricate and precise, the craftsmanship is premium handmade quality and this type of tile design is both decorative and durable, reflecting historical design aesthetics often seen in heritage buildings and ecclesiastical settings.

A quality ceramic of c.14mm / 0.55 inch thick, 14cm / 5.5 inch sq field & border tiles, the floor has cleaned superbly revealing crisp colours. The total surface available is c.16.25m2 / 175 sq ft.

The tiles are reverse stamped ‘R’, having been manufactured by Societe Anonyme Ceramiques Moderne, Rebaix, Belgique and we include in the gallery a scan from the original Rebaix catalogue showing one of the field tiles and the accompanying large border tile, along with a scan of their old factory now long closed.

Tile quantities:-

FIELD TILES – 'MOTIF'  – 300 – 6m2 / 64.6 sq ft.

FIELD TILES – 'GEOMETRIC' – 318 – 6.25m2 / 67.3 sq ft.

LARGE BORDERS – 95 plus 4 corners – 2m2 / 21.5 sq ft. – 13.9 linear metres / 45.6 linear ft.

SMALL BORDERS – 190 plus 8 corners – 2m2 / 21.5 sq ft. – 27.8 linear metres / 91.2 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.