Collection Online as of March 30, 2023

The parrot mother cautions her young on the danger of playing with foxes, from a Tuti-nama (Tales of a Parrot): Fifth Night

c. 1560

Part of a set. See all set records

Dasavanta

(Indian, d. 1584)

Mughal India, court of Akbar

(reigned 1556–1605)

Gum tempera, ink, and gold on paper

Overall: 20.3 x 14 cm (8 x 5 1/2 in.); Painting only: 10 x 10.5 cm (3 15/16 x 4 1/8 in.)

Gift of Mrs. A. Dean Perry 1962.279.32.a

Location

not on view

Fun Fact

A fox cub suckles contentedly, as the mother keeps a sharp eye on the others.

Description

One night the parrot Tuti tells Khujasta that he hopes her relationship with her new lover does not wind up being only half-baked, like the medical treatment of the king of Kamarupa. She asks what that was about, and Tuti begins the story by telling of a mother parrot who lived in the forest with her young, who liked to play with the fox cubs who lived at the base of the tree. The mother parrot is perched on the edge of her treetop nest.

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. 78, 88

Kathman, Barbara A. A Cleveland Bestiary. Cleveland, OH; Cleveland Museum of Art, 1981. Reproduced: p. 30; Mentioned: p. 30, p. 61

Seyller, John. “Overpainting in the Cleveland T̤ūtīnāma.” Artibus Asiae 52, no. 3/4 (1992): 283-318. p. 309 www.jstor.org

Ziad, Zeenut. The Magnificent Mughals. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2002. Reproduced: Fig. 9, pp. 152-153

Seyller, John William, and W. M. Thackston. The Adventures of Hamza: Painting and Storytelling in Mughal India. Washington, DC: Freer Gallery of Art, 2002. Reproduced: fig. 24, p.52

Cleveland Museum of Art. The CMA Companion: A Guide to the Cleveland Museum of Art. Cleveland: Cleveland Museum of Art, 2014. Mentioned and reproduced: p. 210; Reproduced: pp. 197–198

Exhibition history

Indian Miniature Rotation (Gallery 115). The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH (February 4-August 5, 2003).

Indian Miniature Rotation (Gallery 115). The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH (February 20-August 18, 2004).

Art and Stories from Mughal India. The Cleveland Museum of Art (organizer) (July 31-October 23, 2016).