Collection Online as of February 5, 2023

The hunter offers the mother parrot to the king of Kamarupa, from a Tuti-nama (Tales of a Parrot): Fifth Night

c. 1560

Part of a set. See all set records

Basavana

(Indian, active c. 1560–1600)

Mughal India, court of Akbar

(reigned 1556–1605)

Gum tempera, ink, and gold on paper

Overall: 20 x 14.3 cm (7 7/8 x 5 5/8 in.); Painting only: 10.2 x 10.7 cm (4 x 4 3/16 in.)

Gift of Mrs. A. Dean Perry 1962.279.36.b

Location

not on view

Fun Fact

This leper king ruled a territory that stretched from Bhutan to Assam and Bengal.

Description

The king of Kamarupa, which ironically means “body of erotic love,” had leprosy. The hunter brought the captured mother parrot to the king, assuring him that the bird knew a cure. The lavish use of gold indicates that this book was a costly production. The figure of the hunter reveals the talents of the artist Basavana, whose name is written in the right margin. Draped in rustic garments shaded to appear softly flowing, the hunter bends forward with a subtle look of shrewd expectancy as the king seems ready to pay a high price for the parrot. The billowing red curtain is one of Basavana’s signature motifs. Beyond is a tantalizing glimpse of the forest to which the parrot will soon escape to rejoin her children.

Inscriptions

Inscription

'amal basāwan

Inscription Translation

the work of Basavana

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. p. 92

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, 92

Seyller, John. “Overpainting in the Cleveland T̤ūtīnāma.” Artibus Asiae 52, no. 3/4 (1992): 283-318. p. 310 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. 11, pp. 68-69.

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).

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