What is Cremo?
Cremo is a line of art pottery produced in 1904 by the Roseville Pottery Company in Zanesville, Ohio.
Who designed Cremo?
The Cremo line was designed by Frederick Rhead.
After producing drip-style majolica jards, umbrella stands, and spitoons for years, Frederick Rhead designed a small group of shapes to allow those glazes to be used on smaller decorative vases. These shapes were described as the “Cremo” line, and they were very cheap to produce.
The colors were varigated from an almost black on the bottom, through green, yellow, and pink at the top. Small blue flowers were molded into the yellow areas, with molded swirls guiding the drips vertically around the shapes. The glazes are high-gloss with brilliant colors.
When was Cremo made?
The Cremo line was only produced in 1904.
There is only one catalog page known, showing 12 shapes. At least 2 more shapes are known, although they may have been experimental in nature. The actual number of Cremo pieces known in museums and collections is exceptionally limited, making this line one of the rarest and most difficult to collect.
The shapes were numbered from one through twelve on the catalog page, and not related to any of their other inventory numbering systems. Many of the shapes were later re-used as Rozane Royal shapes and assigned new inventory numbers.
Below are known shapes and designs.
Unknown Cremo Shape, 8 Inches