Art of the Table

Overview

Are you an excellent dinner host? Like, 'multiple forks by the plate' good? Well, consider this exhibition a little bit of decorative inspiration. To coincide with the Melbourne Food and Wine Festival, the National Gallery of Victoria have searched far and wide for the most incredible tablewares from the past few hundred years.

Including ceramics, glass, cutlery and silverware, organisers claim the most impressive feats are those between the sixteenth to eighteenth century. And of course, the French did it best. While speaking of the collection, curator Amanda Dunsmore even claimed a lot of the tablewares developed at the court of Louis XIV are still used on our tables today. As magical as that thought is, and how interesting the history may be, you'll no doubt feel a little inferior when you head home to your dinner table and cutlery a la Ikea.