James Callowhill was a fine all round decorator specialising in figure subjects, heads and chased gilding, particularly doing storks and grasses in gold. He did freelance work with his brother Thomas Scott Callowhill. He went to America in 1883 with his brother and worked as a designer in a Baltimore Tile Works, then at Rogers Art Gallery and did lithographs for the Baltimore and Ohio Railroad. His mark was J & C conjoined.