Gilded Table Setting Etiquette

It is a shame that the Tiffany Table Settings book was not done fully in color. This table with gilded silver must have been a spectacular sight!

From “Luxury Tables” :

The White House Vermeil Collection

For four weeks Tiffany had the pleasure, courtesy of President and Mrs. Eisenhower, of showing to the public the late Margaret Thompson Biddle's collection of antique vermeil (sterling silver gilt), which had been willed to the White House. Everything from punch sets to cigarette boxes, from knight figurines to wine coolers, was included in the White House collection. 

Shown here is part of a large formal dinner table, set entirely in vermeil with the exception of the crystal goblets, which was part of the exhibition. The center footed tureen is a very famous seventeenth-century piece of silver: it was the gift of Louis XV to the Prussian Ambassador to the Royal Court. 

The artichoke finial lends an attractive accent to this handsome piece. To the left of it is one of a pair of covered tureens made by the English silversmith Paul Storr in 1806. The three-light candelabra are Sheffield (1821); the service plates, shell salt dishes, and flatware are also English, of a later period.— Tiffany Table Settings, 1960

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