TEHRAN – The bust of Jamshid Mashayekhi has been removed for corrections, the Tehran Municipality announced on Tuesday, just four days after its installation.

The bust, which was set up near the actor’s house, was criticized for its poor resemblance by many people including Tehran City Council member Ahmad Masjed-Jamei.

“According to sculptor Reza Hassanzadeh, the bust was not complete and needs to be modified. It has been taken back to the master’s workshop for some corrections,” the director of the Public Relations Office of the Tehran Municipality, Majid Salehi Firuzabadi, said.

Sculptor Hassanzadeh, a member of the Association of Iranian Sculptors, has made the bust based on a portrait selected by Mashayekhi’s family.

“We are sure about the quality of works by master Hassanzadeh, however he became ill and could not complete the bust until the planned date,” Salehi Firuzabadi added.

During the Sunday session of the City Council, Masjed-Jamei lamented that the bust of Mashayekhi bears no resemblance to him.

“The bust looks nothing like the actor, and it does not deserve his name and position, and I hope the bust will be replaced soon,” he said and asked the Tehran Municipality to be more sensitive about national figures.

Tehran City Council chairman Mohsen Hashemi also expressed his criticism over the bust, and asked sculptors to more careful in making statues of national luminaries.

The bust of the actor was unveiled near his house in the Velenjak neighborhood on Friday during a ceremony attended by Mashayekhi’s family, Tehran Mayor Piruz Hanachi and several art and cultural figures.

Photo: A bust of legendary actor Jamshid Mashayekhi is seen in the Velenjak neighborhood in Tehran on May 3, 2019 just a few minutes after being set up on Moqaddas Ardebili Street. (Tehran Picture Agency/Shayan Mehrabi) 

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