Setting an Arts and Crafts Holiday Table

Published by the Two Red Roses Foundation, December 9, 2019

The season of celebrating is upon us, and the Two Red Roses Foundation (TRRF) is getting into the holiday spirit. Because our collection of decorative objects from the American Arts and Crafts movement were originally created for use, it is fun to imagine them decorating our holiday tables. In honor of the season where people gather around a holiday table with friends and family, we have assembled a fantasy selection of outstanding works from the collection to create the ultimate Arts and Crafts holiday table.

Let’s start with the table itself. An essential choice for any Arts and Crafts home would be a table and chairs made by Gustav Stickley’s Craftsman Workshops (Fig. 1). This beautiful oak dining table was made c. 1912-1914. While the 54-inch diameter round table is substantial, it came with four leaves, perfect in case unexpected guests show up. The table is paired with a set of four Craftsman Workshops side chairs from c. 1905-1907. Characteristic of Stickley furniture, the pieces are simple yet elegant in design and the finishes accentuate the natural beauty of the quartersawn oak. The brown leather seat covers on the chairs are neatly finished with brass tacks.

Elizabeth Fisk Looms made the perfect linens to cover an Arts and Crafts table. A pioneer in the revival of hand weaving, Fisk founded her company in Isle La Motte, VT, and staffed it with local women, producing textiles of exceptional quality. Fisk’s beautiful woven tablecloth (Fig. 2), with naturalistic floral swags in the center, provides a lovely background for our table setting.

There is a wide selection of distinctive Arts and Crafts pottery perfect for the holiday table. The female artisans of the Paul Revere Pottery of Boston, MA – known as the Saturday Evening Girls – created many designs that could add pops of bright color. The large gold serving bowl with conventionalized squawking geese (Fig. 3) is a favorite. This amusing design, attributed to Edith Brown, was executed in 1914 by Fannie Levine.

A plate with a border of hand-painted toadstools continues the theme of nature-inspired Arts and Crafts decorations (Fig. 4). In addition to toadstools, Dedham Pottery of Dedham, MA, produced its popular blue and white “crackleware” dish sets with many different border designs, including flowers, trees, rabbits, polar bears, and elephants.

Providing warmth in wintry holiday weather, a big mug of hot chocolate would taste even better if served from an extremely rare Newcomb Pottery chocolate set (Fig. 5). This pitcher and four mugs feature Sarracenia (trumpet pitcher plants) in cobalt blue and green. The set was designed and decorated by Marie de Hoa Le Blanc and made by Joseph Fortune Meyer at the famous pottery at Newcomb College, the women’s college of Tulane University in New Orleans, LA. Newcomb displayed this striking set at Buffalo’s Pan-American Exposition in 1901, where the company received a silver medal.

A pair of hand-hammered copper and German silver Roycroft candlesticks adds an elegant touch to our table (Fig. 6). The c. 1910-1912 works are attributed to Karl Kipp, who, with Dard Hunter, introduced boldly geometric designs inspired by contemporary Viennese art to Roycroft. These minimal yet graceful candlesticks are among the most exceptional examples of Arts and Crafts metalwork.

No holiday table is complete without a beautiful centerpiece. Fresh seasonal greenery would create a dramatic arrangement in the carved black iris vase with poppies, designed and made in 1900 by Matthew Andrew Daly of the Rookwood Pottery Company in Cincinnati, OH (Fig. 7). Innovations in glazes, inventive designs, and sculptural forms made Rookwood one of the leading Arts and Crafts potteries in the United States at the turn of the twentieth century, and its work is still among the most sought after today.

The TRRF collection includes so many great pieces, it was hard to choose our favorites, but we hope these selections inspire your own artful table settings. No matter what is on your table this season, enjoy the holidays!