The son of the pious man slays the dragon, from a Tuti-nama (Tales of a Parrot): Fifty-second Night (c. 1560): Art, History and Details

The son of the pious man slays the dragon, from a Tuti-nama (Tales of a Parrot): Fifty-second 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 mangled body of the dragon lies at the young man’s feet. Two poisoned arrows protrude from its side. The man has killed the dragon in hopes of marrying the king’s daughter. Although many warriors and brave men have failed at this task, the young man succeeds with ease.

Object facts

• Title: The son of the pious man slays the dragon, from a Tuti-nama (Tales of a Parrot): Fifty-second 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: 9 x 10.5 cm (3 9/16 x 4 1/8 in.)
• Collection: Indian Art
• Department: Indian and Southeast Asian Art
• Accession number: 1962.279.337.b

A detail from the museum

The white holes in this page are from insect damage.

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.