Mukhtar throws his wife Maimuna into the pit, but she saves herself, from a Tuti-nama (Tales of a Parrot): Twenty-fifth Night (c. 1560): Art, History and Details

Mukhtar throws his wife Maimuna into the pit, but she saves herself, from a Tuti-nama (Tales of a Parrot): Twenty-fifth Night (c. 1560) is in the Cleveland Museum of Art collection.

The work and its context

The museum's open-access catalogue describes the work:

Maimuna clings to a branch in a dark pit while her villainous husband watches from above. He threw her into the pit in an attempt to steal her possessions. However, because Maimuna was guiltless, luck and fate saved her from an untimely death.

Object facts

• Title: Mukhtar throws his wife Maimuna into the pit, but she saves herself, from a Tuti-nama (Tales of a Parrot): Twenty-fifth Night
• Date: c. 1560
• Culture: Mughal India, court of Akbar (reigned 1556–1605)
• Type: Painting
• Technique: gum tempera, ink, and gold on paper
• Dimensions: Overall: 20.3 x 14 cm (8 x 5 1/2 in.); Painting only: 11.2 x 10.1 cm (4 7/16 x 4 in.)
• Collection: Indian Art
• Department: Indian and Southeast Asian Art
• Accession number: 1962.279.174.b

A detail from the museum

The artist shows the mouth of the pit at the top and in cross-section below.

Collection credit

Gift of Mrs. A. Dean Perry

View the collection record

See the museum's photographs and full catalogue entry. Catalogue text is reproduced from the Cleveland Museum of Art's open-access data, with HTML formatting removed. This object and its supplied image are designated CC0.