ATTRIBUTED TO F. & C. OSLER, CIRCA 1860

This splendid pair of chandeliers were made circa 1860-70 and relate to designs by the celebrated firm F. & C. Osler. With arms hollowed to fit the latest technological developments in illumination, they epitomise the ingenuity of British craftsmanship and industry and formerly graced the halls of Allerton park, one of the most important Gothic Revival houses in England.
The present pair of ‘waterfall’ chandeliers are of a style that was popular for much of the 19th Century, however the multi-faceted form of the rectangular drops would date this example to the second half of the 19th Century. In particular, those produced by F. & C. Osler, with hollow arms for gas (see M. Mortimer, The English Glass Chandelier, Woodbridge, 2000, p. 156, pl. 93).

F. & C. OSLER
In the 19th century Birmingham was renowned for its manufacture of metal and glass goods. Firms such as Osler, along with W.H., B & J. Richardson cultivated an international reputation for extremely high standards of quality and craftsmanship. 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 centre 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.

ALLERTON PARK
The Allerton estate belonged to the Mauleverer family from the time of the Norman Conquest. When Richard Mauleverer died heirless in 1692, Allerton passed to his wife, who left the estate to Richard Arundell, her son by her second marriage. The park passed by descent until it was sold by Robert Monckton-Arundell, 4^th Viscount Galway (1752-1810) in 1786 to Prince Frederick, Duke of York (1763- 1827), second son of George III and brother of George IV. In 1788 the Duke of York employed Henry Holland to remodel the interior of the house. He is also believed to have been responsible for the construction of the Temple of Victory in the grounds of the park. According to local legend, the ant-like activity of workers constantly ascending and descending the hill on which the temple stands, inspired the famous nursery rhyme ‘The Grand Old Duke of York’.

The estate changed hands once more in 1805 when it was purchased by Charles Philip Stourton, 17th Baron Stourton (1752-1816) and the estate remained largely unchanged until 1848 when the 19^th Baron Stourton demolished the Georgian house and engaged the architect George Martin to redesign the house in a Tudor-Gothic style. The new house was finished in 1851 and passed by descent until its contents were sold in 1965 following the death of William Marmaduke, 22^nd Baron Stourton.