This oval bowl with cast, stamped, and hand-chased artic motifs was a best seller for Gorham from 1870 through the mid-1880s. The fashion for glacial imagery in both the decorative and fine arts had nationalist underpinnings, the purchase of Alaska from Russia in 1867 assured the opening of a new territory for expansion at the time the western fronteir was closing. In addition, ice for cooling drinks, preserving food, and making ice cream was a lucrative American trade throughout the 19th century.

Excerpt from

Bonnie Pitman, ed. "Ice bowl with spoon" in Dallas Museum of Art: A Guide to the Collection (New Haven, CT: Yale University Press, 2012), 200.