The Cleveland Museum of Art

Collection Online as of May 10, 2024

The street cleaner, on his way to meet King Bhojaraja, sleeps under a tree where four thieves disguised as fellow travelers deprive him of a priceless pearl, from a Tuti-nama (Tales of a Parrot): Twelfth Night

The street cleaner, on his way to meet King Bhojaraja, sleeps under a tree where four thieves disguised as fellow travelers deprive him of a priceless pearl, from a Tuti-nama (Tales of a Parrot): Twelfth Night

c. 1560
(reigned 1556–1605)
gum tempera, ink, and gold on paper
Overall: 20.3 x 14 cm (8 x 5 1/2 in.); Painting only: 10.5 x 10.4 cm (4 1/8 x 4 1/8 in.)
Gift of Mrs. A. Dean Perry 1962.279.97.a
Location: not on view

Did You Know?

The body of the thief has been overpainted and repositioned.

Description

Paintings like this reveal how the artists of the Tuti-nama appear to have freely experimented with techniques to make Persian and Indian styles more lively and natural to accord with the taste of their patron, the young Emperor Akbar. Grasses highlighted in yellow impressionistic sprays fill the ground under the magnificent banyan tree. Its trunk is encrusted with a network of aerial roots; the foliage has both green-veined leaves with yellow rims, and freshly sprouted pink sprigs. The streetcleaner, in the blue tunic, had come across a pearl of such high quality that no jeweler knew how much it was worth. So he decided to visit the king to see if he would buy it. On the way he fell in with four other travelers who robbed him of the pearl while he was sleeping.
  • ?–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. pp. 79, 111
    Seyller, John. “Overpainting in the Cleveland T̤ūtīnāma.” Artibus Asiae 52, no. 3/4 (1992): 283-318. p. 313 www.jstor.org
  • Main Gallery Rotation (gallery 245): April 28, 2015 - November 2, 2015.
    Indian Minature Rotation (Gallery 115); August 18, 2004 - May 23, 2005.
    Indian Miniature Rotation (Gallery 115); August 13, 2003 - February 18, 2004.
  • {{cite web|title=The street cleaner, on his way to meet King Bhojaraja, sleeps under a tree where four thieves disguised as fellow travelers deprive him of a priceless pearl, from a Tuti-nama (Tales of a Parrot): Twelfth Night|url=false|author=|year=c. 1560|access-date=10 May 2024|publisher=Cleveland Museum of Art}}

Source URL:

https://www.clevelandart.org/art/1962.279.97.a