Artwork Page for The Brahman gives an account of his falling in love with the king of Babylon’s daughter to his friend, the magician, from a Tuti-nama (Tales of a Parrot): Thirty-fifth Night

Details / Information for The Brahman gives an account of his falling in love with the king of Babylon’s daughter to his friend, the magician, from a Tuti-nama (Tales of a Parrot): Thirty-fifth Night

The Brahman gives an account of his falling in love with the king of Babylon’s daughter to his friend, the magician, from a Tuti-nama (Tales of a Parrot): Thirty-fifth Night

c. 1560

Mughal India, court of Akbar

(reigned 1556–1605)
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Medium
gum tempera, ink, and gold on paper
Measurements
Overall: 20.3 x 14 cm (8 x 5 1/2 in.); Painting only: 9.7 x 10.2 cm (3 13/16 x 4 in.)
Credit Line
Gift of Mrs. A. Dean Perry 1962.279.231.b
Public Domain
You can copy, modify, and distribute this work, all without asking permission. Learn more about CMA's Open Access Initiative.
Location
Not on view
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Did You Know?

Brahmans wear a sacred thread across their upper bodies, over the left shoulder and under the right arm.

Description

The figure in orange is a magician addressing a seated Brahman—a member of India’s Hindu priestly class—who has come to him for help. He and the princess of Babylon have fallen in love and want to be together, but she is sequestered in the palace harem. The magician transformed the Brahman into a woman, shown at left, walking toward the palace. This is an example of continuous narration, in which two scenes are depicted in the same picture plane. The garden with flowering trees in the background evokes the setting where the Brahman and the princess met and fell in love.
A book page features Persian script in the upper third and a painting in the lower two-thirds. At our left, a woman with medium skin tone stands by a building with blue geometric tiles. In the center, a bearded man with medium skin tone sits on a platform. To the right, a man in an orange tunic stands in a garden of flowering trees over a pink and purple hexagonal floor.

The Brahman gives an account of his falling in love with the king of Babylon’s daughter to his friend, the magician, from a Tuti-nama (Tales of a Parrot): Thirty-fifth Night

c. 1560

Mughal India, court of Akbar (reigned 1556–1605)

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