Festive tables have featured throughout history. Several centuries ago already, such dinners were held to mark historic events, to cement important relationships, or quite simply to confirm one’s social status. Several testimonies to such a past figure in the King Baudouin Foundation’s collection.

Four historic tables have been reconstituted in their original context. This publication shows the reader the finesse of celebratory tables between 1875 and 1958. The art of the table in all its facets is described including the table arrangement and decoration, etiquette, food and food habits and the appearance of novelties.