Note how the focus of the design, the flower, is partially hidden by the shape of the fireplace. This too is a common design fault. There are several reasons that may explain the relative scarcity of continuous panels. Design cost was higher, it costs at least five times as much to design a five tile panel than a single tile. Reject rates in manufacturing were high and a set always looks best if fired together as colour and size variations are therefore less.
Continuous panels cost much more than five individual tiles.
Some manufacturers produced continuous designs that adhered to Aesthetic design but they weren't good sellers. The centre double is simply two more of the same. Purpose made set with four one and a half inch bands. It looks fantastic when used as it was intended to be. Tiles that can be mixed in to varying length panels were quite rare.