The Cleveland Museum of Art

Collection Online as of December 13, 2025

Vertically oriented book page with Persian script in the upper third and a painting below depicting a cave within pale purple-pink, orange, and blue-green rocks, a tree sprouting in the upper left. Against the stark black of the cave winds a brown spotted snake on our left and a green spotted frog with orange eyes on our right. A smaller spot of black above shows the entrance to the cave.

The snake enters into an argument with the frog, from a Tuti-nama (Tales of a Parrot): Twenty-sixth Night

c. 1560

Mughal India, court of Akbar

(reigned 1556–1605)
gum tempera, ink, and gold on paper
Overall: 20.3 x 14 cm (8 x 5 1/2 in.); Painting only: 9.5 x 10.2 cm (3 3/4 x 4 in.)
Gift of Mrs. A. Dean Perry 1962.279.183.b
Location: 242B Indian Painting

Did You Know?

The story takes place in China.

Description

Cave compositions were replicated for multiple types of scenes in India, based on Persian models like the Shah-nama painting CMA 1988.96.a. The black background of the caves in the Tuti-nama provides the viewer a window into a subterranean space, the mouth of which is shown amid the rocks above.

Shapur, the exiled frog tyrant, asked a snake to devour his enemies. However, when the snake became hungry again, he ate Shapur’s friends and family. Without any subjects to rule, the frog escaped his dangerous ally and lived out his life, sad and alone.
  • ?–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.
  • Indian Painting of the 1500s: Continuities and Transformations. The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH (organizer) (March 15, 2025-January 11, 2026).
    Animal Fables of Mughal India. The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH (organizer) (March 12-August 29, 2021).
  • {{cite web|title=The snake enters into an argument with the frog, from a Tuti-nama (Tales of a Parrot): Twenty-sixth Night|url=false|author=|year=c. 1560|access-date=13 December 2025|publisher=Cleveland Museum of Art}}

Source URL:

https://www.clevelandart.org/art/1962.279.183.b