http://www.historicfood.com/events2006-7.html
During the 17th and 18th centuries, the royal courts of Europe employed "table deckers", who decorated the tables at royal banquets. They used coloured sands, marble dust, sugars, etc. and featured pictures of fruit, flowers, birds and rustic scenery. These ornate pictures were discarded along with the debris of the feast.
Responsible for setting the dining tables for lunch and dinner were the table deckers, staff employed to arrange displays using flowers from the kitchen garden, and to make the final preparations to the food. One of the dining tables is displayed to show the laying for dinner in progress, with the set square and ruler used by the table decker to ensure each setting was arranged perfectly. Much of the table deckers’ rooms have survived, including the blue painted walls to the glazed cupboards (blue was considered to discourage flies).
http://www.propascene.com/exhibithighlight/osborne_house.htm
2 comments:
Absolutely yes! Although I have never heard of deckers before, it made perfect sense.
Kitchen staff would have been too busy and too grubby to arrange displays using flowers from the kitchen garden, and to make the final preparations to the food. And after all, the dining table was the best opportunity for the host to show off his breeding and refined taste to guests.
It was new to me but I came across several of their really good sand paintings. They were quite well paid and as it says here had their own roon at Osborne.
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