Hailed as the “father of modern Iranian sculpture,” Tanavoli explores Persian folk traditions and religious themes in his work. During the early 1960s, he made works by first sculpting drains, faucets, padlocks, lattices, and tubelike sections in wax or clay, then casting them in bronze. That Tanavoli and the other artists in his creative circle used these motifs earned them the name Saqqakhaneh—a Persian term referring to commemorative public fountains that are often densely decorated and surrounded by metal grills.
2024
Kids label from 2025
Spot the shapes.
This sculpture is made up of many different shapes. Point out the ones that stand out to you!
The artist named this sculpture The Prophet. A prophet is someone who shares a special spiritual message. If this sculpture could talk, what do you think it might say? Which part of the sculpture would do the talking?
Explore more
Modern art
Art made from the 1880s to the 1970s—a time marked by the growth of cities, the rise of industry, a surge in technologies, and the development of mass media.
Learn more →
Calligraphic Abstraction
Gallery 404Hailing from around the world, the artists in this gallery turned to the expressive possibilities of calligraphy in abstract art during the 1950s and 1960s—a period marked, on the one hand, by political independence and newly formed nations, and, on the other, by military dictatorships and the Cold War.
Learn more →
From MoMA Design Store
Installation views
We have identified this work in the following photos from our exhibition history.
Licensing
Artwork or archival images
If you would like to reproduce an image of a work of art in MoMA's collection, or an image of a MoMA publication or archival material (including installation views, checklists, and press releases), please contact Art Resource (publication in North America) or Scala Archives (publication in all other geographic locations).
Audio and film clips
MoMA licenses archival audio and select out of copyright film clips from our film collection. At this time, MoMA produced video cannot be licensed by MoMA/Scala. All requests to license archival audio or out of copyright film clips should be addressed to Scala Archives at [email protected]. Motion picture film stills cannot be licensed by MoMA/Scala. For access to motion picture film stills for research purposes, please contact the Film Study Center at [email protected]. For more information about film loans and our Circulating Film and Video Library, please visit Circulating Film and Video Library.
Text from a publication or the archives
If you would like to reproduce text from a MoMA publication, please email [email protected]. If you would like to publish text from MoMA's archival materials, please fill out this permission form and send to [email protected].
Feedback
This record is a work in progress. If you have additional information or spotted an error, please fill out this feedback form.