The court of the Raja of Ujjain, from a Tuti-nama (Tales of a Parrot): Forty-sixth 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: 15.9 x 10.1 cm (6 1/4 x 4 in.)

Credit Line

Gift of Mrs. A. Dean Perry 1962.279.291.b

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Location

Not on view

Did You Know?

The artist of this folio attempted to make the windows on the back wall appear three dimensional.

Description

When out hunting, the formidable raja of Ujjain captured a fantastic animal and brought it back to his court. It is described as being so soft that the fur of his body “made the back of the sable seem as hard as stone and the smoothness of whose coat made the fur of the ermine feel like the anvil of a blacksmith.”

In devising this wondrous creature’s appearance, the artist gave him cloven hoofs, a beak, and horns, as though inspired by European images of griffins, but with soft-looking fur.