Collection Online as of June 7, 2023

The husband berates his wife for purchasing gravel instead of sugar, from a Tuti-nama (Tales of a Parrot): Eighth Night

c. 1560

Part of a set. See all set records

Mughal India, court of Akbar

(reigned 1556–1605)

Gum tempera, ink, and gold on paper

Painting only: 11.7 x 10.2 cm (4 5/8 x 4 in.); Overall: 20 x 14.4 cm (7 7/8 x 5 11/16 in.)

Gift of Mrs. A. Dean Perry 1962.279.70.b

Location

not on view

Fun Fact

The arched horizon, arabesque clouds, and mauve background are derived from earlier Indo-Persian painting traditions.

Description

After a brief romantic encounter with a merchant, an unfaithful wife returns home to discover that the merchant's clerk replaced her sugar with gravel. Her husband demanded to know why she brought him a bag of dirt. In response, the wily adulteress concocts a quick lie that he readily accepts.

Inscriptions

Inscription Remark

An illegible inscription is present in the right margin

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, OH: The Cleveland Museum of Art, 1976. pp. 105–106

Chandra, Pramod, and Daniel J. Ehnbom. The Cleveland Tuti-Nama Manuscript and the Origins of Mughal Painting. Cleveland, OH: The Cleveland Museum of Art, 1976.

p. 105

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, 105

Nakhshabī, Z̤iyāʼ al-Dīn, and Muhammed Ahmed Simsar, translator and editor. Tales of a Parrot = The Cleveland Museum of Art's Ṭūṭīnāma. Cleveland, OH: The Museum, 1978. pp. 55–68

Seyller, John. “Overpainting in the Cleveland T̤ūtīnāma.” Artibus Asiae 52, no. 3/4 (1992): 283-318. p. 312