A brass two-arm gasolier in the  simple art nouveau design of Faraday & Son but apparently unsigned, now converted for electricity, each branch with an opaline-glass gas lampshade. England C1900

Ht.85cm/33.5in W.70/31

Faraday & Son, London

• Robert Faraday was the brother of  Michael Faraday the well known pioneer scientist of electromagnetics.

•  Robert ran a gasfitter’s and lighting company in Wardour Street from as early as 1823

• After his father’s death his son James took over followed by his grandson Harold in 1875 when the company became known as Messrs. Faraday & Sons

• The firm’s entries for the Electric Light Fittings Exhibition in Edinburgh received a favourable review in The Art Journal of August 1890

•  In 1919, another company, specialising in chandeliers and Faraday’s merged to become Osler and Faraday Ltd, working from Wardour Street until 1925.