This magnificent buffet display by Ivan Day, food historian, shows plate, food, fruits and flowers arranged in a symmetrical design, with authentic pastries made from contemporary
recipes of 17th C. in the newly furnished great Assembly Room at Chatsworth. As an ex-florist and a keen admirer of colour in a formal dining room, I find this very inspiring and I was interested to read that it was in fact itself inspired by a painting by Descartes now in the Met.Museum, NY . It was intended to dazzle the guests and it certainly does give one quite an appetite.
