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“Saghi (Cupbearer)” by Nasser Ovissi (Iranian American) - Oil on canvas with gold / 2000 - Jordan National Gallery of Fine Arts (Amman, Jordan) #WomenInArt #art #IranianArt #artText #JNGFA #NasserOvissi #Ovissi #PersianArt #Saqqakhaneh #BlueskyArt #ModernArt #Iranian #JordanNationalGalleryofFineArts
This rectangular painting shows a richly stylized woman posed beside a golden horse against a dark background. She wears patterned gold garments with floral designs and a tall white headdress. Her pale face, framed by black hair, is marked by long, darkly lined eyes and flushed cheeks. In one hand, she grasps a round gold vessel accented with green and red, while her other hand lifts a small golden cup close to her chin. The horse’s head leans closely toward her, its bridle drawn in curling golden lines that echo other calligraphic swirls and decorative flourishes floating across the canvas. Born in Tehran in 1934 and trained in Rome, Nasser Ovissi emerged as a leading figure in Iranian modernism, bridging Western painterly abstraction with Persian visual traditions. His work often features archetypal women, horses, and vessels as symbols of continuity, beauty, and cultural identity. “Saghi”” reimagines the timeless Persian figure of the sāqī, a cupbearer invoked by classical poets such as Hafez as the one who brings not only wine but also spiritual ecstasy, divine love, and the promise of renewal. The woman’s dual gesture of holding a golden flask and raising a cup makes her both vessel and pourer, a guardian of the intoxicating gift. Her richly patterned gold garments and luminous headdress echo manuscript illumination, while the horse recalls the power and nobility of Persian court imagery. Ovissi’s style is strongly shaped by the Saqqakhaneh movement of Iranian modernism, which emerged in the 1960s. Artists in this circle fused Shi’a shrine iconography, Persian calligraphy, and folkloric motifs with Western abstraction to create a distinctly Iranian modernist voice. While not strictly part of the movement, Ovissi’s mature work, including “Saghi,” carries its spirit forward. By blending ornamental flatness, symbolic archetypes, and luminous gold, he creates a neo-traditional modernism that bridges Iran’s cultural memory with a global art language.
September 22, 2025 at 4:54 AM