Washington Winter Show 2024

43 TABLE SETTINGS AT HILLWOOD When entertaining, Marjorie Post selected and approved the tableware and menu for each meal, commenting on the choices made by the cook. After review and approval by Post, the table was set under the supervision of the butler. Depending on the house and the occasion, guests would enjoy eating from tableware of the latest fashion or that once set on a French royal or Russian imperial table. As a social columnist commented in 1967: “If Mrs. Post says ‘formal’ it IS formal … You’d better believe it.”  1 Most of Post’s table services were produced in France or Russia, but she also acquired pieces made elsewhere in Europe, in the United States, and in China. The depth of the collection allows museum staff to set forty different tables for twelve guests each and an additional thirty-four tables for four guests. One of the largest services in the collection is decorated with motifs that reinterpret naturalistic and multicolored decorations popular during the 1700s, in particular those created by the Sèvres PorcelainManufactory in France. Emperor Nicholas I presented this service to his niece Grand Duchess Ekaterina Mikhailovna (1827–94) in 1851 on the occasion of her marriage to Duke Georg August of Mecklenburg-Strelitz (1824–76). Marjorie Post acquired ninety-four pieces of the service from heirs of the grand duchess in 1952 ( g. 2). Another large historic set at Hillwood came from Post’s daughter, Eleanor Close Barzin, an avid collector as well. It is considered the last ceremonial service produced by Russia’s Imperial Fig. 2: Plates from the Dowry Service of Grand Duchess Ekaterina Mikhailovna. Imperial Porcelain Factory (Russian, 1744–present). St. Petersburg, about 1850. Hard-paste porcelain. Bequest of Marjorie Merriweather Post, 1973 (25.303.1). Hillwood Estate, Museum & Gardens, photographed by Edward Owen.