Butter Dish
Maker
Pairpoint Manufacturing Company
(American, active New Bedford, Massachusetts, 1880 - 1894)
Date1880-1890
MediumSilver plate
DimensionsOverall: 10 × 9 1/4 × 6 7/8in. (25.4 × 23.5 × 17.5cm)
ClassificationsCULINARY ARTIFACTS
Credit LineGift of Robert Tuggle in honor of Anna Tobin D'Ambrosio
Object number2016.3.16.a-c
DescriptionDome-shaped lidded butter dish with removable metal insert; repousse bird, spider, and floral motif.On View
Not on viewCollections
Copyright<a rel="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/"><img alt="Creative Commons License" style="border-width:0" src="https://i.creativecommons.org/l/by-nc/4.0/80x15.png" /></a><br />This work is licensed under a <a rel="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/">Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 International License</a>.
Label TextButter could be made at home or purchased. By the mid-nineteenth century, butter serving dishes with a double-floor construction, kept the butter cool. Ice was placed in the bottom of the dish; another base on which to place the butter was set above. In contrast to the butter serving dish, which was passed, individual butter plates or “pats” allowed the hostess to offer apportioned amounts of what was still an expensive food.
