Decorating a Holiday Dessert Buffet

Since the Twelve Days of Christmas aren’t quite though yet we thought we’d share a buffet table decorated for a holiday dessert party.

Intricate antique sterling and silver-plated serving pieces with vintage china sit awaiting the sweets and treats.

Flanking the buffet are a pair of trees crafted from wire and crystal, while a line of pinecones and votives along the top is punctuated with a few select pieces of white porcelain.

The display has a sort of fantasy winter woodland theme as shown by this vignette of vintage brass deer and crystal and mineral specimens that lend an icy sparkle.

A trio of charming German incense burners, or “smokers” as they’re called because the smoke curls from their mouths, make happy inhabitants of this winter woodland. 

The unusual centerpiece is a golden bonsai Christmas tree trimmed with miniature vintage ornaments and topped with a plump red-feathered bird. When the bonsai tree featured in our houseplant post took a turn for the worst a spray of gold paint gave it a second life as an unexpected Chinoiserie Christmas decoration.

Be sure to see Knickerbocker Antiques and Vintage for any of the serving pieces seen here as well as many many more!

Photos and styling by KS&D.

Eclectic Holiday China

With Thanksgiving a week away it’s time once again to start thinking about setting the perfect holiday table.


Incorporating a unique piece or two of antique and vintage china with your existing pieces is a great way to add interest to your table setting. A special piece of porcelain such as a compote dish or gravy boat also makes a wonderful hostess gift that can be brought out and enjoyed year after year.


An elegant platter or unique serving tray always makes a beautiful and useful addition to any china collection, while more specialized pieces such as a sugar and creamer or a set of tiny butter pats are a charming way to add that little extra touch.


For a hint of whimsy why not add something purely decorative? Our pyramid of majolica fruits and vegetables or the colorful Italian ceramic pheasant figure are both perfect accompaniments for any harvest feast.

Photos and styling by KS&D.

Thanksgiving China

With food, family, and fabulous china, what’s not to love about Thanksgiving! This year why not create the perfect table setting for your loved ones with unique antique and vintage china tableware.


Beneath our pretty pale pumpkin sits a of stack of old china bowls the perfect shade for serving butternut squash soup along with a stack of creamware dinner plates in an intricate pattern appropriately titled American Traditional. A good heavy turkey platter such as this antique English ironstone piece is one of the most important pieces on any Thanksgiving table second only to the gravy boat of course such as this charming floral piece by Staffordshire.


The white porcelain gravy boat is ideal for a more formal table setting, especially when paired with the luxurious sterling silver ladle complete with mother of pearl handle. The stack of vintage floral ironstone china dinner plates coordinate nicely with the antique transferware casserole dish brimming with autumn gourds. Imagine serving fresh apple cider to your guests with this unusual porcelain pitcher and cup set lavishly hand painted with acorns and oak leaves displayed here before a Currier and Ives print depicting a wild turkey hunt on a long ago Thanksgiving Day.

Photos and styling by Knickerbocker

Eclectic Dessert Buffet

What better way to follow up our recent “dinner for two” post than with a generous helping of dessert? We’ve scoured the butler’s pantry for our most romantic porcelain and fine china serving pieces to create a dessert buffet as rich as any frosted confection.


Anchoring the table’s right end is a charming vintage German apothecary jar overflowing with fresh hydrangea in every imaginable shade of pink and purple. Flanking the bouquet are some beautiful Limoges porcelain compote dishes with intricate gilded floral detailing including a large cake stand layered with a scallop shell compote to create a multilevel serving piece perfect for displaying cookies and other treats. Tucked between all the Limoges sits a elegant antique Austrian porcelain serving basket and a charming antique English china sugar and creamer set.


Front and center sits an intricately painted porcelain tray of unusual shape piled high with vintage German porcelain cups and saucers adorned with colorful clusters of lush ripe fruits. Illuminating the scene from behind is a pair of elaborate porcelain candelabra ornamented with cherubic figures along their bases.


Behind the exquisite Haviland Limoges biscuit jar and vintage pewter coffee pot rests a large English ironstone platter just waiting to be put into service. The set of antique Royal Worcester bowls in the foreground are of ivory china with finely detailed gilded rims. Next to these a stack of small plates includes a set of old English Staffordshire embellished with blue ivy as well as a set of antique platinum banded Lenox. The scene is finished off with a smaller bouquet of hydrangea arranged in a classical vintage Lenox vase.

Photos and styling by KS&D.

Dinner for Two

A beautifully set table can turn the simplest meal into a memorable event. Luckily the "butler’s pantry" here at Knickerbocker Antiques and Vintage is stocked with all the little necessities for a one-of-a-kind table.


We started by taking the quilt off the bed and putting it into service as a unique tablecloth set off by a simple blown glass urn filled to the brim with lilies and irises. This simple yet elegant base makes a perfect backdrop for mixed and matched pieces selected from our antique and vintage porcelain, fine china, crystal and glassware collections.


Our place settings feature colorful French Limoges dishes sitting atop antique Austrian porcelain soup bowls with delicately gilded detailing. The dinner plates are unadorned white porcelain by Villeroy & Boch featuring fanciful molded borders perfect for mixing and matching. The white and gold bread and butter plates of English Wedgwood china perfectly match the French Limoges butter pats, a charming dining accessory rarely seen today.


The exquisite hand blown Venetian Murano glass goblets from Asprey are intended for red wine but their massive size makes them perfect water as well. They are shown here matched with antique wine glasses featuring unusually detailed stems and vintage cut crystal glasses by Tiffin.


The table for two sits framed by columns displaying potted plants, one in a large art pottery shell supported by monkeys and the other in an Italian majolica pot. The framed bird print and gilded wall swags pick up on the china’s gilded details creating a cozy vignette for a memorable meal.

Photos and styling by KS&D.

The Work of Photographer Slim Aarons

Everyone likes flipping through a pretty “coffee table book”, and with their lavish swimming pool cover shots two of our summertime favorites have to be Once Upon A Time and A Place in the Sun featuring the work of photographer Slim Aarons.


As portrait photographer for Town and Country, Holiday, and Life magazines, Slim once described his career as “photographing attractive people doing attractive things in attractive places”. From WWII until the 80’s he traveled the world photographing the rich and famous in their natural habitat. From high society and royalty to titans of industry and Hollywood celebrities the pages of these books are filled with the one glorious image after another.


Our books are seen here with a simple bouquet of daisies, the perfect summertime flower, arranged in an antique French Country china creamer. The swirling striations of the antique Venetian glass bowl beautifully match the soft sherbet hues on the books spines. Now all we're missing is the newest book, which appropriately enough is simply titled Poolside with Slim Aarons.

Photos and styling by Knickerbocker.

Blue & White at Balderbrae

Our recent posts on the blue and white color scheme and the sale at Albemarle House reminded us our favorite use of blue and white was that used by David Easton at Balderbrae, his Hudson River Valley country house.


This image of the lofty main room shows an envelope of warm honeyed hues punctuated by a symmetrically hung display of blue and white porcelain along the walls. Another favorite decorative device of ours are the corbels used here to display a number of jars and vases. To be honest we love just about everything about this space especially that great round table piled high with books, yet another one of our favorite things!

The Perfect Summer Color Scheme

Summer certainly is one of the busiest times of year at Knickerbocker Antiques. With the warm weather comes tag sales, flea markets, antique shows, and auctions full of unique and eclectic treasures to be discovered. Between the humidity and temperatures reaching into the nineties there’s nothing more refreshing than coming home to a cool palate of crisp blue and white.


Here a shelf of our rustic cabinet features a display of blue and white china from around the world including an oval platter by Lomonosov, porcelain supplier to the Tsars of Russia, in the Cobalt Net pattern designed for Empress Elizabeth and used at Stalin’s own table. To take off the cold formal edge of the blue and white and impart a nautical summertime feel we’ve added a pair of Venetian art glass dolphin candlesticks and two white coral branches around a Blue Willow pitcher. Filling out the display are two Blue Fjord plates, a delft box, a small Chinese dragon pitcher, and a row of intricate Chinese porcelain cups.


On the upper shelf a simple arrangement of white lily and iris in an antique delft vase continues the color scheme among a group of classical sculptures including a copy of Michelangelo’s David, a distressed antique marble bust, and a graceful female figure. One entire corner is filled by a large art glass vase which fades from cobalt blue to clear to a bold aqua at the rim. A carved gilt corbel turned upside down, and a framed antique French print, lend a metallic sparkle enhanced by glowing votives.


The ornately carved wooden chest on the bottom shelf is surrounded by a number of art and design books chosen to compliment the color scheme with all bold bindings removed in favor of blues, whites, and neutral tones.

Photos and styling by KS&D.

Antique & Vintage Porcelain & Fine China

Here's a look into part of a large arched china breakfront lining the hall opposite the arrangement seen in a previous post. The gentle sloping arch of the glass fronted door makes a lovely frame for a selection of porcelain pieces featured in our online shop. The lower shelf is almost entirely devoted to an elegant Bavarian porcelain dessert service adorned with lush depicts of ripe fruits.

The upper shelf continues the theme with a collection of vintage German porcelain plates featuring baskets overflowing with fruit along the finely detailed borders. The plates make a lovely backdrop for an intricately hand-painted porcelain pitcher and cup set covered in realistically rendered clusters of acorn and oak leaves.


Photos and styling by KS&D.