F. & C. OSLER
The city of Birmingham earned great renowned in the nineteenth century for its manufacture of metal and glass goods, with firms such as Osler and W.H., B & J. Richardson cultivating an international reputation for their extremely high standards of quality and craftsmanship. The former was established by Thomas Osler on Broad Street in 1807 and, in its infancy, produced small prisms and ornamentation for chandeliers. When Osler’s entrepreneurial sons Follett (d. 1903) and Clarkson (d. 1876) joined the firm in 1831, re-establishing the firm as F. & C. Osler, they expanded their production to include ambitious candelabra, chandeliers and decorative furnishings, such as these impressive torchères. Osler, in particular, attracted an international audience, not least the princes of India, to whom Osler marketed ever more imaginative cut-glass designs through its Calcutta showroom, which interestingly was opened before even their London showroom. In Britain, Osler enjoyed the patronage of Queen Victoria at Buckingham Palace, Windsor Castle and Osborne House and their pole position in the glass-making industry was demonstrated by the installation of their magnificent fountain at the center of Joseph Paxton’s Crystal Palace at the Great Exhibition of 1851. Indeed the construction of this palace in glass is testament to the high regard in which the British glass-making industry was held at this time.