A set of four arts and crafts wall lights attributed to the Birmingham Guild of handicraft, each roundel of lightly-hammered copper,  with very attractive variable patina and supporting pendant a James Powell & Sons vaseline-glass lampshade, English,c.1900.

(N.B. one shade slightly larger than remaining three).

Diam. 21cm/8.5ins; depth 22/8.5; ht. as displayed 38/15.

The Birmingham Guild of Handicraft 1888-1905

• Birmingham Guild of Handicraft was an Arts & Crafts organisation. Its motto was ‘By Hammer and Hand’.

• Around 1888 It began as a loose part of the Birmingham Kyrle Society, then became a more fully formed group within the Kyrle Society in 1890

• In 1895, the Guild set up as an independent workshop and limited company with the guidance of Edward R. Taylor.

• The Guild produced furniture and metal-ware, taking special advantage of the switch to electric lighting and the consequent need for new light fittings.

• Arthur Dixon was the chief designer and head of metalwork workshop. Other members were Albert Edward Jones and Thomas Birkett.

• Due to commercial pressures, there was a merger with E & R Gittins in 1905

Whitefriars Glass Company, London

James Powell & Sons

• 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.

• 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