SOTHEBY’S is to auction a spectacular mirrored dining table which once dazzled King Edward VIII and Mrs Simpson. It was made in the 1930s for the Belgrave Square (London) diningroom of Sir Henry “Chips” Channon – a renowned society host, Tory MP and celebrated diarist – and his wife, brewing heiress Lady Honor Guinness, eldest daughter of the second Earl of Iveagh. They were known for hosting lavish parties during the years between the two World Wars.
In 1935, Channon, who famously admitted to being “riveted by lust, furniture, glamour, society and jewels”, hired interior decorator Stéphane Boudin from the House of Jansen in Paris to create a diningroom that would “shock and stagger London”.
His inspiration was the rococo Mirror Room in King Ludwig’s Amalienburg palace, outside Munich. The monumental table, which fully extended, reaches over 25ft (7.7m), has a mirrored top, which echoed the room’s mirrored panelling. The diningroom chairs were silvered and upholstered in sea-green silk to match the curtains and Meissen porcelain graced the table.
The King and his mistress duly came to dinner on 11th June, 1936, and Channon – in his diary – recalled that, as dinner was announced "The doors were flung open . . . and there was a pause as everyone's breath was quite taken away by the beauty of the dining-room". The fantasy didn't last. King Edward abdicated a few months later and decadent opulence was curtailed under the more restrained reign of George VI. The table will be auctioned at Sotheby's Fine Furniture Salein London on September 20th and the estimate is £5,000-£7,000 (€5,693-€7,970).
