James Powell & Sons (Whitefriars) | A satin-glass lantern | England c.1900

£695.00

A satin-glass lantern of domed onion shape with distinctive swirl pattern undoubtably by James Powell & Sons,  Whitefriars Glass Company, London with original brass support designed with cockeral finials. English early c20th

Ht.71cm/28in, Ht.(of shade & rim)25/10, Diam.(max)27/10

Whitefriars Glass Company, London

James Powell & Sons/ Harry Powell

  • In 1834 James Powell,  then a 60-year-old London wine merchant and entrepreneur, purchased the Whitefriars Glass Company, a small glass-works off Fleet Street in London.
  • Powell, and his sons Arthur and Nathanael, were newcomers to glass making, but soon acquired the necessary expertise and specialised in making church stain glass windows.
  • When Harry Powell “Grandson of James” took over as Manager in 1876, James Crofts Powell, his cousin, ran the important stained glass department using in-house designers and famous artists like Burne-Jones for important commissions.
  • From 1875 Harry Powell had a blacksmith called Edminstone with a boy called Edmund Francis employed to make wrought iron lighting fixtures, which again used his fabulous shades. He supplied many other makers with various shade shapes.
  • During the latter part of the c.19th, the firm formed a close association with leading architects and designers. Whitefriars produced the glass that Phillip Webb used in his designs for William Morris
  • By 1900 production lines of  vaseline and opalescent glass-ware, including lampshades, were proving to be extremely successful with clients such as William Arthur Smith Benson using their glass in the design of their lights.
  • The firm’s name was changed to Powell & Sons (Whitefriars) Ltd in 1919
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