The right size is found by starting from the furniture, not from the catalogue. Measure the width of the surface you want the head to stand on, divide it by three, and you have the height to look for: on a 120 cm console, about 47 inches, a piece around 40 cm, roughly 16 inches, sits well. That proportion holds in most houses.
Then there is a second measurement almost nobody checks, and it is the most frequent cause of second thoughts: the footprint at the base. A testa di moro is not a narrow vase. It rests on a wide bottom, it has real weight, and if the shelf is less than 30 cm deep, about 12 inches, height is no longer the problem.
The two measurements that actually matter
On every product page you will find the height. That is the number that decides the impact: how much the head is seen when you walk into a room, whether it looks down at you or lets itself be looked at. It is also the number that weighs most on the price, and we explain why further down.
The one you cannot judge by eye is the diameter at the base, that is how much room the piece takes where it rests. On a narrow shelf or a windowsill that is what decides whether it fits or overhangs. If you do not see it listed, write to us: we measure it on the actual piece before you order.
How to read the measurements
The height given is the total, crown included. On the ornate heads the crown is worth several centimetres, and they are centimetres you notice: if you are working out the clearance under a wall unit or inside a display cabinet, count them in.
The maximum width almost never matches the base. A face with curls and applied fruit widens halfway up, and that is the point that meets the wall or the glass.
Weight matters on shelves and floating surfaces. Glazed terracotta is not a light ornament, and a badly fixed hidden bracket will find that out. Weight is not printed on the product pages: if your surface is delicate, ask us before ordering and we will weigh the piece.
Start from the furniture: five real situations
Entrance console
The most requested spot, and the one that carries the most generous sizes. Rule of thumb: piece height around a third of the length of the furniture, and at least 15 cm, about 6 inches, clear on each side, otherwise the console looks full before you have even put the keys down. If there is a mirror above it, check the head does not cut across its lower edge.
Shelf and bookcase
Here the height of the opening gives the orders, not taste. Measure the clearance between one shelf and the next, take off 5 cm, about 2 inches, and that is the maximum height you can afford: a piece wedged between two shelves loses its profile, and on a testa di moro the profile is half the work. Contained sizes give their best in a bookcase, with the empty space of set-back books around them.
Dining table
A centrepiece must not stop people seeing each other. Under 30 cm, about 12 inches, conversation stays open; above 35 the piece starts elbowing in among the guests. On a long table, two low pieces at the ends work better than one tall one in the middle.
On the floor, beside a fireplace or in a corner
This is the one case where the larger sizes are not a luxury but a necessity: on the floor a small piece disappears. The reference here is not the furniture but the backs of the sofas and the height of the doorways. Past half a person's height, the head stops being an object set down somewhere and becomes part of the room.
Balcony, terrace, garden
Outdoors everything shrinks: the same head that dominates indoors looks ordinary outside. Wind counts too, so again weight and base. The outdoors has questions of its own, from frost to rain, and we have gathered them separately.
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Buy nowWhy height changes the price
Prices climb with the centimetres, and not as a flat multiplier, because as it grows a piece changes trade.
- More material and more time. A large piece takes more clay, dries more slowly and occupies the kiln for longer.
- More surface to cover. The decoration is painted one line at a time: double the height and the surface to be decorated grows by much more than double.
- More that can go wrong. On the larger formats the share of pieces that do not make it to the end is higher, and the workshop carries that loss.
- Finishes that ask for another firing. Gold, platinum and lustres go through a third firing, which is why at the same height they cost more.
The catalogue heights run from 15 to 60 cm, roughly 6 to 24 inches, with steps at 20, 25, 30, 33, 38, 40, 45, 48 and 50. Each piece carries its own price, and shipping is shown at checkout.
The cardboard test
Before ordering, do this. Cut from a box a shape as tall as the piece you are looking at and as wide as its base, stand it where the head will go and leave it there for a day. Walking past it teaches you in half an hour what photographs never say, which is whether that bulk sits well with you. People who write to us torn between two heights usually settle it this way, without needing us.
If you are taking a pair
Two heads do not take twice the space, they want more than that: the two pieces need air between them, or they read as a single block. On the same console it is worth dropping one size compared with what you would choose for a single piece.
The sizing mistakes we see most
- Choosing from the photograph. A head photographed on its own has no scale and always looks big. The reference is the measurement on the page, not the image.
- Forgetting the depth. A 45 cm piece on a shelf 20 cm deep will stand up, but it overhangs, and in the long run it makes you tense every time you walk past.
- Buying small to be safe. The most common mistake of all. In an ordinary room a contained size gets lost among the picture frames and the plants, and whoever chose it so as not to get it wrong nearly always ends up ordering a larger one.
- Not adding the height of the furniture. A console stands around 80 cm, roughly 31 inches: with a 40 cm piece the top reaches 120 cm, which is below your eye line. That is why certain heads look small even when they are not.
Common questions
Is there a size that works almost always?
The middle heights are the most versatile, because they sit on a console or a living room cabinet without forcing you to rethink what is around them.
How do I find the exact height of a piece?
It is given on every product page. If you also need the diameter at the base or the weight, send us the model code and we will answer with the numbers of the piece we would ship you.
Are the measurements accurate to the centimetre?
These are hand modelled pieces, so two examples of the same model can differ slightly. The height on the page is the model's: on the piece you receive it can move by a few millimetres, because clay shrinks in firing and never does it the same way twice.
Does a large head suit a small home?
Yes, if it has a clear wall in front of it. One important piece in a compact room works better than three medium ones scattered about, as long as it is the only object on that surface.
Where to start
Take the tape measure, note the width of the surface and its depth, then open the catalogue with two numbers in your head instead of the general idea of a testa di moro. From there the choice narrows on its own, and what is left is a question of colour and character.
All the heights are in the testa di moro collection, with the measurement on every page. If instead you already have the piece in mind and it is the room you are missing, decorating with teste di moro runs the opposite way to this one: it starts from the space and arrives at the object.
