Artwork Page for The queen of Rum watches the peahen prefer to burn rather than abandon her eggs while the peacock flees the nest, from a Tuti-nama (Tales of a Parrot): Thirty-ninth Night

Details / Information for The queen of Rum watches the peahen prefer to burn rather than abandon her eggs while the peacock flees the nest, from a Tuti-nama (Tales of a Parrot): Thirty-ninth Night

The queen of Rum watches the peahen prefer to burn rather than abandon her eggs while the peacock flees the nest, from a Tuti-nama (Tales of a Parrot): Thirty-ninth 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: 16 x 10.3 cm (6 5/16 x 4 1/16 in.)
Credit Line
Gift of Mrs. A. Dean Perry 1962.279.254.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?

Rum is the Arabic name of Rome and once designated the Byzantine Empire.

Description

The queen of Rum sits in the upper balcony of her palace watching the fire in her garden with shock. Two female attendants observe the action from the room below. The cowardliness of the peacock in the face of danger convinced the queen of the disloyalty of men. As a result, she vowed to never marry.
A vertically oriented gum tempera and ink painting on paper depicts black script above a multi-leveled scene. On our left, a woman in a blue skirt sits on a balcony above two figures sitting together. On our right, one bird sits in a nest in a tree and another stands on the ground near a red fence. A large vertical area of surface loss appears in the center of the composition.

The queen of Rum watches the peahen prefer to burn rather than abandon her eggs while the peacock flees the nest, from a Tuti-nama (Tales of a Parrot): Thirty-ninth Night

c. 1560

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

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