The Cleveland Museum of Art

Collection Online as of February 3, 2023

The merchant’s daughter meets the gardener, from a Tuti-nama (Tales of a Parrot): Twelfth Night

c. 1560

Part of a set. See all set records

India, Mughal court, 16th century

Gum tempera, ink, and gold on paper

Overall: 20.3 x 14 cm (8 x 5 1/2 in.); Painting only: 9.8 x 10.1 cm (3 7/8 x 4 in.)

Gift of Mrs. A. Dean Perry 1962.279.100.b

Location

not on view

Fun Fact

In the time since their first meeting, the gardener has become an ascetic.

Description

Among the illustrations in the Tales of a Parrot, this painting is one of the most representative of local Indian styles, with very few Persian features. Trees stand out as bold shapes, and figures are arranged in a single register and have angular and expressive gestures. The female figures are closely related to pre-Mughal types, shown always in profile and wearing garments that stand stiffly and sharply out before them.

Provenance
Estate of Breckenridge Long, Bowie, MD, 1959; Harry Burke Antiques, Philadelphia, PA; Bernard Brown, Milwaukee, WI;
Citations
Chandra, Pramod, and Daniel J. Ehnbom. The Cleveland Tuti-Nama Manuscript and the Origins of Mughal Painting. [Cleveland]: Cleveland Museum of Art, 1976. pp. 79, 113
Seyller, John. “Overpainting in the Cleveland T̤ūtīnāma.” Artibus Asiae 52, no. 3/4 (1992): 283-318. pp. 113-114 www.jstor.org
Exhibition history

Arthur M.Sackler Gallery, Smithsonian Institution (6/21/2002 - 9/9/2002); The Brooklyn Museum of Art (11/1/2002 - 1/26/2003): "The Adventures of Hamza", exh. cat. no. 13, pp. 70-71.

Main Gallery Rotation (gallery 245): April 28, 2015 - November 2, 2015.

The Adventures of Hamza. Smithsonian Institution Freer Gallery of Art and Arthur M. Sackler Gallery, Washington, DC (organizer) (June 21-September 29, 2002); The Brooklyn Museum, Brooklyn, NY (November 1, 2002-January 26, 2003).

Source URL: https://www.clevelandart.org/art/1962.279.100.b