The Cleveland Museum of Art

Collection Online as of April 20, 2024

The rejuvenated old man and the daughter of the king of the jinns take leave of the King of Kings, from a Tuti-nama (Tales of a Parrot): Seventh Night

The rejuvenated old man and the daughter of the king of the jinns take leave of the King of Kings, from a Tuti-nama (Tales of a Parrot): Seventh Night

c. 1560
(reigned 1556–1605)
Overall: 20.3 x 14 cm (8 x 5 1/2 in.); Painting only: 11.3 x 10.1 cm (4 7/16 x 4 in.)
Location: not on view

Did You Know?

The old man emerges from the boiling oil eighteen years old and beardless.

Description

The artist who painted the first two scenes rendered the pit as a structure made of bricks. Peering over the edge is a Brahmin, a member of the Hindu priest class, wearing white. In the first painting he holds the bracelets given to him by the jinn princess to pay off his gambling debts; in the second he holds a text. In the pit, the jinn princess has been waiting for 70 years for her beloved to find the courage to pass through the cauldron of boiling oil in order to become purified enough to be with her––a jinn, who is a being of light, like a genie. Hearing of this predicament from the Brahmin, the King of Kings, wearing orange, provided a salve that protects the wearer from the harm of the hot oil, so the old man could safely pass through the boiling cauldron, which restored his youth. The artist Banavari, whose name is inscribed on the margin of the third page, went on to become a prominent artist in Akbar’s atelier. This painting may be the earliest surviving example of his work.
  • ?–1959
    Estate of Breckinridge Long [1881–1958], Bowie, MD
    1959–1962?
    (Harry Burke Antiques, Philadelphia, PA)
    1959?–1962
    (Bernard Brown Agency, Milwaukee, WI, sold to the Cleveland Museum of Art. Purchased with funds from Mrs. A. Dean [Helen Wade Greene] Perry)
    1962–
    The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH
    Provenance Footnotes
    1 Samuel Miller Breckinridge Long (May 16, 1881–September 26, 1958) was an American diplomat and politician, who served in the administrations of Presidents Woodrow Wilson and Franklin Delano Roosevelt. Long is largely remembered for his obstructionist role as the Assistant Secretary of State responsible for granting refugee visas during World War II. His interests included the collection of antiques, paintings and American ship models. He maintained a stable of Thoroughbred race horses and was a director of the Laurel Park Racecourse in Laurel, Maryland, and he enjoyed fox hunting, fishing, and sailing.
  • Chandra, Pramod, and Daniel J. Ehnbom. The Cleveland Tuti-Nama Manuscript and the Origins of Mughal Painting. [Cleveland]: Cleveland Museum of Art, 1976. 
    p. 97
    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. 97
    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, 97
    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. 48–54
    Seyller, John. “Overpainting in the Cleveland T̤ūtīnāma.” Artibus Asiae 52, no. 3/4 (1992): 283-318. p. 310 www.jstor.org
  • Main gallery rotation (Gallery 245). The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH (November 2, 2015-April 4, 2016).
  • {{cite web|title=The rejuvenated old man and the daughter of the king of the jinns take leave of the King of Kings, from a Tuti-nama (Tales of a Parrot): Seventh Night|url=false|author=|year=c. 1560|access-date=20 April 2024|publisher=Cleveland Museum of Art}}

Source URL:

https://www.clevelandart.org/art/1962.279.50.b