Chief calligrapher Pat Blair was busy handwriting place cards for President Donald Trump’s first State Dinner.
She wasn’t the only one.
Trump invited President Emmanuel Macron, France’s youngest president at age 39, and approximately 150 guests April 24 to the White House for the first State Dinner of the Trump Administration.
Previous administrations hosted large numbers of guests on the White House grounds, sometimes beneath a tent. When it comes to the Trumps, a couple who know a thing or two about hospitality, tents were not discussed. The Trumps decided that this State Dinner would be an elegant, understated and small affair. The Washington National Opera was the featured entertainment along with a menu prepared by White House Executive Chef Cristeta Pasia Comerford, a Filipino-American who has been in that position since 2005.
Wines, a popular collecting niche today, recall the historic relationship between the United States and France dating back to the American Revolution. One of the wines served at the State Dinner was Domaine Serene Chardonnay Evenstad Reserve 2015 ($68 per bottle) made from Dijon’s plants grown in Oregon’s rich soil.
While Trump likes chocolate cake and Macron is a discerning eater, the setting for the dinner was the State Dining Room. First lady Melania Trump, who is well known for her impeccable good taste and fashion sense, organized the event and decided on its many details, ushering in both style and grandeur. The decisions of the first lady in concert with her social secretary, Rickie Niceta, and staff ranged from the dinner menu and seating chart to the décor’s color scheme and table linens. The antiques on display for the event included late-19th-century gold-and-wooden chairs, seasonal centerpieces, presidential china drawn from two previous administrations, vermeil flatware, gold-rimmed-etched drinking glasses and other decorative accessories.
As guests entered the State Dining Room, they walked through Cross Hall. The hall was lined with oversized classical urns hosting Washington’s famous cherry blossoms, an annual sign of spring in our nation’s capital. Visitors flock to Washington, D.C., each year to see the lovely buds. For the State Dinner, the interior was filled with more than 1,200 cherry blossom branches. The scene was reminiscent of Europe’s promenades as the White House decorations highlighted grand classicism in Western culture.
The State Dinner’s color scheme was cream and gold, which should come as no surprise to those who have been watching Trump work from the Oval Office over the last year or so. Like the gold décor found throughout the grand palaces of Europe and in the Oval Office’s curtains, gold is the color of choice for the Trump White House.
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The table settings for the State Dinner included use of the Clinton presidential china for the baseplate, and pieces from both President Bill Clinton and President George W. Bush for the dinner service. Mrs. Trump chose the Bush china, which has a green border to highlight each table’s floral centerpieces. China from both the Clinton and Bush services offer a quiet yet elegant feel.
Other pieces on display were from the White House’s famous vermeil collection. The White House’s vermeil collection numbers more than 1,000 pieces of gilt objects including flatware, pitchers, salvers, plates, chalices and tureens. Gilt silver objects, known as vermeil, have a 1/1000th of an inch of gold overlay atop a base of silver. The White House vermeil collection was bequeathed by Margaret Thompson Biddle during the Eisenhower Administration with an undisclosed estimated value. The collection includes works by artisans Paul Storr (1771-1844) and Jean Baptiste Claude Odiot (1763-1850).
Other accessory objects in use during the State Dinner and on display in the State Dining Room were by Tiffany & Company and S. Kirk & Sons of Baltimore, Md., adding to the overall ambiance of the event. The floral centerpieces were made of white sweet peas and white lilacs. The table centerpieces were sweet smelling and low to the tabletop yet grounded by a central candelabra. The arms of the candelabra were positioned above eye level so that as to not disrupt conversations between guests seated at the room’s round tables.
The historic event demonstrated America’s history, position and style on the world stage. It is certainly also a fine opportunity to view some of our country’s most coveted antiques and collectibles.
Dr. Lori Verderame is an acclaimed antiques appraiser, author and award-winning TV personality who stars on The History Channel’s "The Curse of Oak Island" and Fox Business Network’s "Strange Inheritance" appraising artifacts. Her column appears on the first Wednesday of the month. With a doctorate from Penn State University and experience appraising 20,000 antiques every year, Dr. Lori presents antique appraisal events and keynote speeches to worldwide audiences. Visit www.DrLoriV.com/events or call 888-431-1010.