Figure - Busto testa di moro ceramica - Delftware

Beautiful half-bust of a man, a typical Testa di Moro, a famous ceramic craft from Sicily, in particular from Caltagirone. Vase, a man with relief decorations. The figure wears an elaborate blue and gold turban, conspicuous red and gold hanging earrings, and a crown rich in beads and floral or geometric motifs. The ceramic face is white-glazed, with dark beard and hair, expressive eyes, and colored lips. The birth of the Teste di Moro is linked to a famous and dramatic popular legend set in Palermo during Arab rule: Around the year 1000, in the Arab quarter of Kalsa, a Sicilian noble-born girl lived her days confined at home, tending to plants on her balcony. One day, a young Moor (an Arab merchant) saw her and fell hopelessly in love, declaring his love to her at once. The girl, returned the feeling, lived with him in an intense passion. However, happiness was short-lived: she indeed discovered that the young man had a wife and children in the East and that he was about to return to his homeland. Blinded by jealousy and betrayal, on the night he slept, the girl killed him, cut off his head, and made a vase in which she planted basil seeds, watering it with her tears. The basil grew lush, arousing the envy of all the neighbors, who began to have terracotta vases made with the same shape.