Polychrome Moor's Head Woman H 32 "Lemons"

Have you ever wondered why there is a Sicilian tradition of making majolica plant-holder heads? . . a legend tells that: in Kalsa, the "Arab" neighborhood of Palermo, during the Arab domination around the year 1000, in one of these narrow and smelly streets (the Arab kasbah), there lived a beautiful girl with rosy skin, comparable to peach blossoms at the height of their bloom, with a beautiful pair of eyes that seemed to reflect the beautiful sea of ​​the Gulf of Palermo. Locked up in her house, she spent her days cultivating and caring for the plants in her garden. One day a young Arab happened to pass by and saw the beautiful girl intent on caring for the plants. He fell in love with her and decided he wanted her forever.

Without delay he entered the girl's house and declared his love. The girl, struck by so much feeling, returned the young man's love, but when she learned that the Arab wanted to take her with him to return to his lands and increase his harem, she made him the counterproposal to stay in Palermo, abandoning the harem and staying with her forever. Having received a negative response, she waited until night and killed him in his sleep.

She cut off his head and made a vase in which she planted basil, putting it on display in the rich garden. The Arab, thus, unable to "leave" anymore, remained with her forever and in the meantime the basil grew lush and aroused the envy of the inhabitants of the neighborhood who, not to be outdone, had terracotta vases made in the shape of a "Moor's head". But the girl who had been guilty of murder was reserved, as punishment, the same treatment so that even the head of the beautiful Palermitan became a model for the execution of the city's potters!