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Lot Essay
In its overall design, with spreading waterfall 'tent-chain' body and tiered needle-hung canopy, these chandeliers are extremely closely related to the documented oeuvre of John Blades. Blades' name first appears in the London Guide for 1783 at 5 Ludgate Hill, where he remained until his death in 1829. By 1797, he was commissioned by the Draper's Company to supply a pair of chandeliers for the Court Room, where they remain to this day. Blades was perhaps unique in retaining the services of a designer, the architect J.B. Papworth, who also designed the firm's elaborate new showrooms in 1823, illustrated in Ackerman's Depository of the Arts of 1823. Blades built up a strong export trade, particularly to India and the Middle East, and eventually a branch of teh firm, Blades and Matthews, was established in Calcutta.
A very similar 12-light chandelier, corresponding to a design signed and dated 'John Blades 1828' and originally supplied to a house in Scotland, was exhibited by Stair & Company at the Grosvenor House Antiques Fair, 1984, Catalogue, p.94 and is discussed in M. Mortimer, The English Glass Chandelier, Woodbridge, 2000, pl.80.
A very similar 12-light chandelier, corresponding to a design signed and dated 'John Blades 1828' and originally supplied to a house in Scotland, was exhibited by Stair & Company at the Grosvenor House Antiques Fair, 1984, Catalogue, p.94 and is discussed in M. Mortimer, The English Glass Chandelier, Woodbridge, 2000, pl.80.