In 1845 Thomas Webster commented that dessert knives and forks were essentials among “the usual articles in silver required to furnish a table. . . .” These dessert knives by Gorham terminate in a three-dimensional head, the ultimate development of a series of related flatware patterns introduced by several silver manufacturers in the 1860s that incorporated medallion portraits. Gorham's pattern Bust, which entered into the cost books in 1866, is perhaps the best known of the three-dimensional variety. The manufacturer also offered individual place, tea, butter, and crumb knives in this pattern.

Related examples: This pair originally comes from a set of twelve; another pair belongs to Winterthur, and the others are privately owned.

Book excerpt: David B. Warren, Michael K. Brown, Elizabeth Ann Coleman, and Emily Ballew Neff. American Decorative Arts and Paintings in the Bayou Bend Collection. Houston: Princeton Univ. Press, 1998.