The unfaithful wife explaining away the presence of the dough elephant, from a Tuti-nama (Tales of a Parrot): Eighth Night (c. 1560): Art, History and Details
The unfaithful wife explaining away the presence of the dough elephant, from a Tuti-nama (Tales of a Parrot): Eighth Night at the Cleveland Museum of Art: c. 1560, gum tempera, ink, and gold on paper. Explore the work's context, creator att
The unfaithful wife explaining away the presence of the dough elephant, from a Tuti-nama (Tales of a Parrot): Eighth 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:
A woman who has just committed adultery on the way to bring her husband his meal must explain why she fashioned his pastry into the shape of an elephant. She was not aware that her lover’s son had done this, but thinking quickly, she explained that she had a dream that eating the elephant would protect him from danger. He accepts this lie and thanks his wife for her kindness.
Object facts
- Title: The unfaithful wife explaining away the presence of the dough elephant, from a Tuti-nama (Tales of a Parrot): Eighth Night
- Date: c. 1560
- Culture: Mughal India, court of Akbar (reigned 1556–1605)
- Type: Painting
- Technique: gum tempera, ink, and gold on paper
- Dimensions: Painting only: 11.5 x 9.9 cm (4 1/2 x 3 7/8 in.); Overall: 20 x 14.4 cm (7 7/8 x 5 11/16 in.)
- Collection: Indian Art
- Department: Indian and Southeast Asian Art
- Accession number: 1962.279.62.b
A detail from the museum
The wife wears Indian dress, but the husband wears Central Asian Mughal dress.
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.
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.
Sources
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