Gorham Manufacturing Company, manufacturer

As explorers made tracks within and beyond the boundaries of the United States, artists followed, with new discoveries making their way into contemporary design. Silvery icebergs, polar bears, and caribou adorn this ice bowl, one of several versions made by the Gorham Manufacturing Company beginning in the 1870s. Its iconography relates not only to northern expeditions, but also reflects the expansion of America’s borders with the 1867 purchase of Alaska from Russia.

Back home, Bostonian Frederic Tudor, known as the Ice King, had perfected the process of harvesting New England ice and shipping it worldwide. This bowl, encircled with hanging icicles, accompanied by tongs formed as two rope-entwined harpoons, provided an impressive presentation.