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

The parrot addresses Khujasta at the beginning of the forty-third night, from a Tuti-nama (Tales of a Parrot) (c. 1560) is in the Cleveland Museum of Art collection.

The work and its context

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

In this brightly patterned scene, Khujasta prepares to leave for a clandestine rendezvous. However, she is stopped by Tuti the parrot, who tells her moralizing stories that last until sunrise. Multiple architectural spaces have been flattened as though they were made using paper cutouts. Khujasta stands on the pink tiled floor of a courtyard. Behind her the blue carpet on the floor of a covered porch has been tilted up vertically below the red tiled lower wall decor. Lattice windows reveal the darkness of night. The golden tile patterns above the protrusions of the pink stone roof appear to indicate the floor of the roof above.

Object facts

• Title: The parrot addresses Khujasta at the beginning of the forty-third night, from a Tuti-nama (Tales of a Parrot)
• 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: 9.2 x 10.3 cm (3 5/8 x 4 1/16 in.)
• Collection: Indian Art
• Department: Indian and Southeast Asian Art
• Accession number: 1962.279.276.a

A detail from the museum

Khujasta holds a packet of paan for freshening the breath in her left hand.

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.