The Cleveland Museum of Art

Collection Online as of December 21, 2025

Vertically oriented book page with Persian script in the upper third. Below, a painting depicts a man with light skin tone in orange robes and a grey-white horse repeated across two layers of purple-grey mountains. In the upper rendition, the cross-legged man gestures with one hand to another with light skin tone and muted green robes standing below him, and a snake, head peaking from beneath his robes, with the other. Below, he holds the snake's tail, it's head seeping blood on the grass.

The emir slays the snake after giving it shelter, from a Tuti-nama (Tales of a Parrot): Forty-fifth 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: 9.9 x 10.5 cm (3 7/8 x 4 1/8 in.)
Gift of Mrs. A. Dean Perry 1962.279.287.b
Location: 242B Indian Painting

Did You Know?

The previous folio, showing Khujasta addressing Tuti the parrot, is currently in the collection of the National Museum of Asian Art-Freer Gallery of Art, Smithsonian Institution in Washington, DC.

Description

In the upper register, the emir addresses the snake’s owner. The snake itself hides, barely visible beneath the edge of the emir’s orange robe. In the bottom scene, the emir dashes the snake on the ground having realized that the dangerous animal planned to kill him.
  • ?–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.
  • The previous folio, number 286, is currently in the collection of the National Museum of Asian Art-Freer Gallery of Art, Smithsonian Institution in Washington, DC. It shows Khujasta addressing Tuti the parrot. www.si.edu
    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, 144
  • Indian Painting of the 1500s: Continuities and Transformations. The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH (organizer) (March 15, 2025-January 11, 2026).
    Yoga: The Art of Transformation. The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH (June 22-September 7, 2014).
  • {{cite web|title=The emir slays the snake after giving it shelter, from a Tuti-nama (Tales of a Parrot): Forty-fifth Night|url=false|author=|year=c. 1560|access-date=21 December 2025|publisher=Cleveland Museum of Art}}

Source URL:

https://www.clevelandart.org/art/1962.279.287.b