A butter dish is a specialized dish in which butter

Butter

Butter is a dairy product made by churning fresh or fermented cream or milk. It is generally used as a spread and a condiment, as well as in cooking applications, such as baking, sauce making, and pan frying...

 is served. It would normally have a base with a separate fitting lid with its own handle. A typical measurement is 8 inches by 5 inches. Butter dishes are commonly made of stainless steel

Stainless steel

In metallurgy, stainless steel, also known as inox steel or inox from French "inoxydable", is defined as a steel alloy with a minimum of 10.5 or 11% chromium content by mass....

, silver

Silver

Silver is a metallic chemical element with the chemical symbol Ag and atomic number 47. A soft, white, lustrous transition metal, it has the highest electrical conductivity of any element and the highest thermal conductivity of any metal...

 or porcelain

Porcelain

Porcelain is a ceramic material made by heating raw materials, generally including clay in the form of kaolin, in a kiln to temperatures between and...

. The metal examples tend to have within them a glass base to protect the metal from the corrosive effects of salt within the butter. An alternative to a standard butter dish is a French butter dish

French butter dish

A French butter dish is a container used to keep butter fresh and soft without refrigeration. This late 19th century French-designed pottery crock has two parts: a base with a hollow cylinder attached to it, and a cup that also serves as a lid. The cup holds the packed in butter, and the base...

, also known as a butter crock.