The Epiphany Feast Tablescape - Celebrating the coming of the Magi

According to Wikipedia, Epiphany, meaning "vision of God", which falls on January 6, is a Christian feast day that celebrates the revelation of God the Son as a human being in Jesus Christ. For many Christians, the day commemorates the coming of the Magi, the Wise Men who followed the star to witness for themselves the child called Jesus.

I'm not much of a "tablescaper".  I love to see the elaborate tablescapes that people create, but have never had much of a talent creating my own.  I do love a pretty table though, so I'll keep trying to set one.  My tablescape today reflects the theme of the Epiphany.  I've done the entire table with a "silver and gold" color scheme.  My centerpiece is the manger scene at the time that the wisemen visited.  I had planned to do a New Year's Eve tablescape using some magnolia leaves that are sprayed gold, but as I was scrounging around trying to find silver and gold things, my eyes fell on the lovely Lenox Wise Men that I had on my shelf and I had my own epiphany!  And here it is.....

 My china is two different patterns of Rosenthal.  The dinner plate and the saucer are the same pattern but one is in silver and the other is in gold.  The salad plate is the "classic" pattern and has a small band of deep blue outlined in gold.   My goblets are inexpensive tea goblets that I bought several years ago at Belk Department Stores and my champagne stems are all vintage.  I have four of one pattern and two of another - I'm sorry I don't know the pattern names.  And the coffee cups.....well, now, I didn't have cups at all in my Rosenthal patterns.  The Rosenthal china plates were some discontinued pieces that I picked up from a department store closeout and there were no cups.  In the bottom of my china cabinet I found some old Fire King cups in the swirl pattern with gold rims, so I used them.  I probably should have left them off, but they're not too bad.

The Wise Men bringing their gifts to the child Jesus.  Some of my vintage mercury ornaments are in a small bowl atop a silver base.  Silver candlesticks hold gold swirl candles.  All of these things are sitting on a shiny silver platter with gold handles.  It gives sort of a mirrored effect.

The real magnolia leaves are sprayed gold, with some of the green still showing through.

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A vintage champagne stem.

Layers of Rosenthal

A side view

A view towards the french doors that lead to the library.  My table runner came from Marshalls.  I used it on my brown tablecloth for my Fall tablescape found here.

The placemats are like lace doilies but are in the shape of a house.

I love how the silver base holding the ornaments picks up the images of the Wise Men.

The baby Jesus and the sheep are from a vintage manger scene made in Italy.

Another vintage crystal stem pattern.

The star of Bethlehem!  These fragile blown glass ornaments are about 80 years old.  I don't store them in my attic anymore because they are getting more and more fragile with time.  I have about fifty of these vintage blown glass ornaments  that I put on my tree each year.

I hope you enjoyed my tablescape.  We plan to have a few friends over for a simple dinner of a steak, baked potato and salad.  We will remember the Epiphany and the star that signaled the birth of a child that would change the world.

For some awesome tablescapes, follow this link to Between Naps on the Porch .