Thanksgiving is the one dinner of the year when the table is the point. Everyone sits down at once, the dishes stay out, and people look at what is in front of them for a long time. This is how we would set it, with pieces from the gallery.
Start with the cloth
The tablecloths are our own, the African Leopard Fabric Collection: a leopard medallion in a gold ring, sprays of proteas, birds and leaves, and a wide gold border. They come in red, black and blue at 118 by 58 inches, in red and black at 94 by 58, and as rounds of 77 inches in all three colors.
If the table is a wood you would rather show, use a runner instead. Ardmore's runners and napkins are designed by the artists of its studio in South Africa, and the napkins come in pairs. There is also a runner in Moroccan silk.
The centerpiece
The autumn harvest pumpkin tureen was sculpted by Sbusiso Ndaba at Love Art Ceramic and painted by Minenhle Nene in the green and yellow stripes of a squash just picked. It stands ten inches tall and twelve across, and the lid lifts away by its stem.
Beside it, the elephant peanut bowl. Motsamai Sello sculpted the elephant, with a spotted monkey climbing its side, and Swelihle Khanyeza painted it. Fill it with pecans.
Autumn harvest pumpkin tureen
Ten inches tall, twelve across.
$1,600
Elephant peanut bowl
Six inches tall, nine long.
$695
Candlelight at both ends
The bush baby candlesticks stand twenty inches tall, so a pair holds the two ends of a long table. Sfiso Mokoena sculpted the bush babies around the stem and Swelihle Khanyeza painted them, down to the aloe at the base.
Pair Of Bush Baby Candlesticks
Twenty inches tall, sold as a pair.
$7,500
And the morning after
The round cloths fit a breakfast table. Here the black one, with the safari cheetah pumpkin painted by Swelihle Khanyeza and the small safari leopard pumpkin painted by Jabu Nene sitting on its medallion.
Black round tablecloth
Seventy-seven inches round.
$495
Safari cheetah pumpkin sculpture
Seven inches tall.
$595
Safari leopard pumpkin sculpture
Four inches tall.
$395