Aliasghar Petgar painted the work on display, titled Saqqa (Water-carrier), when he was thirty, in 1948. Having moved from Tabriz to Tehran early on, Petgar was a well-known painter with a personal style who had managed to acquire fame in the Capital, where he had to compete with prominent students of Kamal-ol-Molk. His studio was located on Naderi Street, back then a hub of activity and throbbing social life in Tehran.
An emphasis on lights, shadows, and colored halftones had rendered the painting an intimate touch. Free use of colors and brushstrokes in the painting with no elaborate design is the most significant stylistic quality of works of the Petgar brothers which distinguishes them from unquestioning students of Kamal-ol-Molk. It seems that in this painting, Petgar gave more or equal priority to depicting a popular familiar subject across the alleyways of old Tehran rather than showing how to paint it, to demonstrate once again that the worldview of the Petgar brothers, regardless of the culture and environment, was incomplete. The facial expression of the water carrier clearly bespeaks the difficulties of life. The tranquil expression of the old man, however, indicates his simplistic, dervish way of thinking, being happy with a draft of water and a passing good moment in a hot day. In addition to the work offered for sale, the majority of titles of Aliasghar Petgar works, including the Young Fruit Vendor, Laundry Day, Gazoran Neighborhood(Tabriz), and Immersed in Imagination with No Destination, indicate that he always considered social concerns an indispensable part of his art.