Sicilian Moorish heads handcrafted H33, vases, Caltagirone ceramics, Design, home decoration, , Sicilian craftsmanship, faces, visages, vases

Large Sicilian Moor's heads in Caltagirone ceramics entirely hand-made in shape and decoration H33 L30

Please note that these, like all our other heads, are unique pieces. You will be sent the exact one photographed and not one of the many heads made in series!
They are shapes are hand-shaped and small defects are part of the craftsmanship of the product, this also makes them authentic.
We are not guilty of presumption but we distinguish ourselves for this!


The original Moor's heads made by the masters of art of Caltagirone represent a thousand-year-old love story,
They bring luck and prosperity to their owner.
Moor's heads can be used as vases to make your environment unique and elegant.
These heads have a glossy finish which makes them a very valuable item.
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History of the Moor's Heads

It is said that around the year 1100 AD, during the domination of the Muslims in Sicily, also called Moors, in the Arab quarter of Palermo called “Al Hàlisah” (which means the pure or the chosen one) today known as the Kalsa quarter, a beautiful young girl lived her solitary days locked in her house taking care of the plants on her balcony, the only way she was allowed to look at the world outside that house which, despite being rich and majestic, seemed to her like a golden prison.

One day, from the top of her flower-filled balcony, she was seen by a young Moor who, having fallen in love with her at first sight and seized by a violent passion, did not hesitate to declare his love for her.

The young girl, having never been courted and struck by the promise of love that the young Moor made to her, reciprocated his feelings and allowed him to enter that majestic house.

However, the young Moro, despite having abandoned himself to passion with the beautiful girl, had a wife and children in the East to return to. When he revealed the terrible news to the girl, embittered by that betrayed love that was about to abandon her, she was seized by a fatal anger and jealousy, which are still said to be typical of Sicilian women, which pushed her to seek a way to take revenge.

So at the end of the last night spent together, which was a prelude to the return journey, after having abandoned themselves to passion, he, having fallen into a deep sleep in her arms, slept unaware of his fate, then the girl put her revenge into practice and struck him to death.

Furthermore, the face of that young man, whom she had madly loved in that short time, was meant to remain at her side forever, so she cut off his head, creating with it an object similar to a vase that she placed on the balcony and planted a basil shoot inside (she chose basil because this fragrant plant, from the Greek “Basilikòs”, king, represents the herb of sovereigns).

In this way, by taking daily care of the plants on her balcony, the girl continued to take care of her beloved from whom she never separated again.

Every day she watered that basil with her tears, making the plant more and more flourishing and luxuriant.

The neighbors, looking with envy at that plant that was growing conspicuously and giving off an intense perfume in that bizarre head-shaped vase, had terracotta vases made that reproduced the same appearance as the one kept by the girl.