The Cleveland Museum of Art

Collection Online as of April 26, 2024

The merchant of Tirmiz takes the wise parrot and myna to ‘Ubaid, from a Tuti-nama (Tales of a Parrot): Forty-second Night

The merchant of Tirmiz takes the wise parrot and myna to ‘Ubaid, from a Tuti-nama (Tales of a Parrot): Forty-second Night

c. 1560
(reigned 1556–1605)
gum tempera, ink, and gold on paper
Overall: 20.3 x 14 cm (8 x 5 1/2 in.); Painting only: 12 x 10.2 cm (4 3/4 x 4 in.)
Gift of Mrs. A. Dean Perry 1962.279.269.b
Location: not on view

Did You Know?

Tirmiz, a city in modern-day Uzbekistan, is situated along the Amu-Darya river in Central Asia.

Description

The merchant of Tirmiz hurries home with a parrot’s cage clutched in his right hand and a myna bird’s in his left. His friend, dressed in orange, has suggested that these wise birds can offer advice to the merchant’s son, ‘Ubaid, who has becomes excessively infatuated with his wife.
  • ?–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. p. 142
    Nakhshabī, Z̤iyāʼ al-Dīn, and Muhammed Ahmed Simsar. Tales of a Parrot = The Cleveland Museum of Art's Ṭūṭīnāma. Cleveland: The Museum, 1978. pp. 258-65
  • {{cite web|title=The merchant of Tirmiz takes the wise parrot and myna to ‘Ubaid, from a Tuti-nama (Tales of a Parrot): Forty-second Night|url=false|author=|year=c. 1560|access-date=26 April 2024|publisher=Cleveland Museum of Art}}

Source URL:

https://www.clevelandart.org/art/1962.279.269.b