DINNER IS SERVED

MARJORIE MERRIWEATHER POST’S INVALUABLE CHINA AND TABLEWARE ARE DISPLAYED IN GLASS CABINETS AT THE CLUB

PHOTOGRAPHY BY JERRY RABINOWITZ

The divine collection includes Venetian stemware and Capodimonte porcelain plates, a distinctive style made in southern Italy since the 1700s.

SCOTT ERB & DONNA DUFAULT ERB PHOTOGRAPHY

Above: Gilded glassware with a pastoral motif lends a regal but festive mood to the table. Right: A solid gold charger plate.

At formal dinners, Marjorie Merriweather Post broke out her best tableware: solid gold chargers (kept in a safe when not in use), Capodimonte china, and Venetian stemware that was appraised by Christie’s in 1960 at $1,000 per stem (that’s $9,390 per stem today). She was the consummate hostess. It’s been said that butlers worked tirelessly preparing for the evening, centering tables and measuring the placement of the dinner plates to the napkins, candleholders, and silverware.

Post, considered American royalty, gathered influental guests and international dignitaries at the 29-foot-long, marble-top dining table in the lavish 1,500-square-foot dining room. The romantic space is lit with gilded, carved-wood chandeliers with flo er-shaped fabric diffusers. The room's design is a reproduction of the dining room in the Palazzo Chigi in Rome, home of the Italian prime minister. Spanish chandeliers, Venetian chairs, and the striking ceiling decorated with billowing sky frescoes regally ensconced fortuitous dinner guests.

The wealthiest woman in America for decades, Post was famously known to curate both her guest lists and menus. According to the 2013 biography Living Artfully: At Home with Marjorie Merriweather Post by Estella M. Chung, Post disdained tardiness and dinner was served promptly at the designated time—no matter how prestigious the latecomer—because she didn’t want others to be inconvenienced. Another entertaining secret, according to the biography: Her secretary recorded the menus so guests wouldn’t be served the same thing twice. — Cathy Chestnut