The Cleveland Museum of Art

Collection Online as of May 10, 2024

The lover of Hamnaz, who has been hanged from the gallows, bites off her nose when she kisses him, from a Tuti-nama (Tales of a Parrot): Twenty-fifth Night

The lover of Hamnaz, who has been hanged from the gallows, bites off her nose when she kisses him, from a Tuti-nama (Tales of a Parrot): Twenty-fifth Night

c. 1560
(reigned 1556–1605)
Overall: 20.3 x 14 cm (8 x 5 1/2 in.); Painting only: 13.5 x 10.1 cm (5 5/16 x 4 in.)
Location: not on view

Did You Know?

The gallows originally had four legs, discernible under infrared light.

Description

Hamnaz stands on a stool embracing her lover as he hangs. He has been put to death as punishment for being caught in their affair. Disfiguring her face serves as his final act of vengeance.
  • ?–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, 126
    Nakhshabī, Z̤iyāʼ al-Dīn, and Muhammed Ahmed Simsar. Tales of a Parrot = The Cleveland Museum of Art's Ṭūṭīnāma. Cleveland: The Museum, 1978. Trans. pp. 163-168
    Seyller, John. “Overpainting in the Cleveland T̤ūtīnāma.” Artibus Asiae 52, no. 3/4 (1992): 283-318. p. 317 www.jstor.org
    Seyller, John. “Overpainting in the Cleveland T̤ūtīnāma.” Artibus Asiae 52, no. 3/4 (1992): 283-318. p. 317 www.jstor.org
  • {{cite web|title=The lover of Hamnaz, who has been hanged from the gallows, bites off her nose when she kisses him, from a Tuti-nama (Tales of a Parrot): Twenty-fifth Night|url=false|author=|year=c. 1560|access-date=10 May 2024|publisher=Cleveland Museum of Art}}

Source URL:

https://www.clevelandart.org/art/1962.279.177.a