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The Parrot Addresses Khujasta at the Beginning of the Seventh Night, from a Tuti-nama (Tales of a Parrot)
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The Cleveland Museum of Art

The Parrot Addresses Khujasta at the Beginning of the Seventh Night, from a Tuti-nama (Tales of a Parrot)

Description

Every night for 52 nights the sly domesticated parrot encourages his master’s wife Khujasta to meet her lover under cover of darkness. Just before she leaves, the parrot mentions a topic from a tantalizing tale; she becomes so curious that she cannot go out before hearing the whole story. By the time the story ends, dawn breaks, and it is too late for her to go out unnoticed. The artist who painted this page was still firmly entrenched in the idioms of pre-Mughal painting.

Provenance

Estate of Breckinridge Long [1881–1958], Bowie, MD; (Harry Burke Antiques, Philadelphia, PA); (Bernard Brown Agency, Milwaukee, WI, sold to the Cleveland Museum of Art. Purchased with funds from Mrs. A. Dean [Helen Wade Greene] Perry); The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH

Dimensions

20.3 × 14 cm

Accession No

1962.279.43.a

Curatorial Affinity Stream

Continuing the Universe of Unknown Artist

Indian and Southeast Asian Art • Mughal India, court of Akbar (reigned 1556–1605) • Harmonious Works & Contemporaries