The king of Bahilistan offers his daughter to the King of Kings, from a Tuti-nama (Tales of a Parrot): Seventh Night (c. 1560): Art, History and Details

The king of Bahilistan offers his daughter to the King of Kings, from a Tuti-nama (Tales of a Parrot): Seventh 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:

The local king was so moved by the gesture of the King of King’s in support of the dervish and by his cleverness at bringing his own head, still attached, that he offered his daughter in marriage to him. The princess, wearing Indian dress, is shown honoring his feet. The male figures wear the Central Asian dress of the Mughals, with a long belted tunic and pants. The King of Kings then allowed her to marry the dervish. A fancy door with geometric patterns is in the background, but it extends all the way down to the front of the floor, which has been tilted up, so that the tile pattern can be seen head-on. These fanciful manipulations of space are a hallmark of local Indian artistic practice.

Object facts

• Title: The king of Bahilistan offers his daughter to the King of Kings, from a Tuti-nama (Tales of a Parrot): Seventh 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: 10.6 x 10 cm (4 3/16 x 3 15/16 in.)
• Collection: Indian Art
• Department: Indian and Southeast Asian Art
• Accession number: 1962.279.46.b

A detail from the museum

The domed pavilions are typical features of Mughal architecture, with the pink sandstone eves.

Collection credit

Gift of Mrs. A. Dean Perry

Further reading listed by the museum

• Chandra, Pramod, and Daniel J. Ehnbom. The Cleveland Tuti-Nama Manuscript and the Origins of Mughal Painting. [Cleveland]: Cleveland Museum of Art, 1976.
• Chandra, Pramod, and Daniel J. Ehnbom. The Cleveland Tuti-Nama Manuscript and the Origins of Mughal Painting. [Cleveland]: Cleveland Museum of Art, 1976.
• Chandra, Pramod, and Daniel J. Ehnbom. The Cleveland Tuti-Nama Manuscript and the Origins of Mughal Painting. [Cleveland]: Cleveland Museum of Art, 1976.

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.