The parrot addresses Khujasta at the beginning of the forty-ninth night, from a Tuti-nama (Tales of a Parrot): Forty-Ninth Night (c. 1560): Art, History and Details

The parrot addresses Khujasta at the beginning of the forty-ninth night, from a Tuti-nama (Tales of a Parrot): Forty-Ninth 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:

On the forty-ninth of fifty-two nights, Tuti the wise, talking parrot tells Khujasta a moralizing story about three brothers, two of whom aged prematurely, while the third remained young. The story lasts until sunrise, and Khujasta is unable to leave to visit her lover.

Object facts

• Title: The parrot addresses Khujasta at the beginning of the forty-ninth night, from a Tuti-nama (Tales of a Parrot): Forty-Ninth 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: 8.8 x 10 cm (3 7/16 x 3 15/16 in.)
• Collection: Indian Art
• Department: Indian and Southeast Asian Art
• Accession number: 1962.279.311.a

A detail from the museum

The original underdrawing is visible where the paint has flaked from Khujasta’s face.

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.