Ade
A ceramic head, finely decorated in bright, vivid colours, where the attention to pictorial detail and the quality of the ceramic used contribute to the value of this piece, making it unique and exclusive.
The legend tells a story of love, jealousy and revenge dating back to around the year 1000, during the Moorish rule in Sicily, and is set in the historic Kalsa district of Palermo.
There lived a beautiful young woman who captivated a Moor so much that he wished to prove his uncontrollable love for her, yet he harboured a great secret: he was planning to return to the East shortly, where a wife and children awaited him.
Her pride wounded and betrayed by the man she believed to be her great love, she plotted her revenge; one night, she killed him and cut off his head so that her beloved would remain with her forever.
It was with his head – hence the name ‘testa di moro’ or ‘testa di turco’ – that she fashioned a pot in which she planted basil, a plant linked to divine symbolism and traditionally associated with sacredness.
From that moment on, according to legend, the basil grew luxuriantly, nourished by the girl’s tears. The beauty of that plant, however, aroused the envy of the other residents of the neighbourhood, who therefore commissioned craftsmen to make terracotta pots in the shape of a Moor’s head.
