Artwork Page for The four destitute friends go to a wise man who gives each one of them a magic shell to be placed on top of the turban, from a Tuti-nama (Tales of a Parrot): Forty-seventh Night

Details / Information for The four destitute friends go to a wise man who gives each one of them a magic shell to be placed on top of the turban, from a Tuti-nama (Tales of a Parrot): Forty-seventh Night

The four destitute friends go to a wise man who gives each one of them a magic shell to be placed on top of the turban, from a Tuti-nama (Tales of a Parrot): Forty-seventh 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.)
Credit Line
Gift of Mrs. A. Dean Perry 1962.279.301.b
Public Domain
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Location
Not on view
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Did You Know?

This story takes place in Balkh, a city in northern Afghanistan.

Description

The seated wise man drops a small, red shell into the final friend’s outstretched hands. He then instructs each of them to go out into the world and walk until the shell falls to the ground. If the man digs where the shell lands, he will find something to sustain him.
A vertically oriented gum tempera painting features Persian script in the upper third above a colorful scene. On our left, a bearded man in a red robe sits under a green-tiled roof. To our right, four men with light to medium skin tones and dark facial hair gather, one in yellow leaning forward. Others in orange, green, and purple robes watch nearby against a blue floral wall and pink brick border.

The four destitute friends go to a wise man who gives each one of them a magic shell to be placed on top of the turban, from a Tuti-nama (Tales of a Parrot): Forty-seventh Night

c. 1560

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

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