The Cleveland Museum of Art

Collection Online as of April 26, 2024

The princess discovers the dead bodies, with heads severed, of her husband and his Brahman friend, from a Tuti-nama (Tales of a Parrot): Thirty-fourth Night

The princess discovers the dead bodies, with heads severed, of her husband and his Brahman friend, from a Tuti-nama (Tales of a Parrot): Thirty-fourth Night

c. 1560
(reigned 1556–1605)
gum tempera, ink, and gold on paper
Overall: 20.3 x 13.4 cm (8 x 5 1/4 in.); Painting only: 17.7 x 10.3 cm (6 15/16 x 4 1/16 in.)
Gift of Mrs. A. Dean Perry 1962.279.229.b
Location: not on view

Did You Know?

A flag, which is a standard component of an active Hindu temple, was drawn for the tallest dome, but never painted.

Description

The frantic princess stands above the bodies of her husband, dressed in orange, and the Brahman. Both men have died by their own hand. They are miraculously resurrected after the princess places each head on the wrong body. Because of this mix-up, the men begin to fight over who should be considered the princess’s rightful husband.
  • ?–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, OH: The Cleveland Museum of Art, 1976. pp. 79, 137
    Seyller, John. “Overpainting in the Cleveland T̤ūtīnāma.” Artibus Asiae 52, no. 3/4 (1992): 283-318. p. 318 www.jstor.org
    Mace, Sonya Rhie, Mohsen Ashtiany, Catherine Glynn, Pedro Moura Carvalho, Marcus Fraser, and Ruby Lal. Mughal Paintings: Art and Stories: the Cleveland Museum of Art. London: D Giles Limited, 2016. p. 17
  • {{cite web|title=The princess discovers the dead bodies, with heads severed, of her husband and his Brahman friend, from a Tuti-nama (Tales of a Parrot): Thirty-fourth Night|url=false|author=|year=c. 1560|access-date=26 April 2024|publisher=Cleveland Museum of Art}}

Source URL:

https://www.clevelandart.org/art/1962.279.229.b