Collection Online as of June 4, 2023

The vizier’s son receives the magic wooden parrot from the wife of the merchant, who is drunk, and has a replica made by a carpenter, from a Tuti-nama (Tales of a Parrot): Tenth Night

c. 1560

Part of a set. See all set records

Lalu

Mughal India, court of Akbar

(reigned 1556–1605)

Gum tempera, ink, and gold on paper

Painting only: 9.8 x 10.2 cm (3 7/8 x 4 in.); Overall: 20.1 x 13.2 cm (7 15/16 x 5 3/16 in.)

Gift of Mrs. A. Dean Perry 1962.279.81.b

Location

not on view

Fun Fact

The long-necked bottles are full of liquor.

Description

At right, the merchant lies drunk while the vizier’s son receives the parrot from the merchant’s wife, with whom he is having an affair. In the upper register, a skilled carpenter carves an exact replica of the parrot that the vizier’s son will later pass to the merchant’s wife.

Inscriptions

Inscription

lālū

Inscription Translation

(by) Lalu

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. 108

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, 108

Seyller, John. “Overpainting in the Cleveland T̤ūtīnāma.” Artibus Asiae 52, no. 3/4 (1992): 283-318. p. 313 www.jstor.org