Since ancient times oil has been used for lighting. The earliest examples were simple bowls filled with whale oil.
Dishlights became popular in the 19th century as they offered a practical alternative to candlelight. Using wicks soaked in Colza oil, the oil was usually held in a central reservoir and was gravity fed to small sumps beneath the burners which were covered with decorated or opaque glass shades.
The dishlights illustrated on these pages show the variety of shapes, sizes and styles that can be produced from our stock of antique patterns. Our dishlights feature fine lost wax brass castings, hand made split link chains and heavily cut crystal dishes.
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