Collection Online as of November 30, 2023

The four destitute friends go to a wise man who gives each one of them a magic shell to be placed on top of the turban, from a Tuti-nama (Tales of a Parrot): Forty-seventh Night

c. 1560

Part of a set. See all set records

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.)

Gift of Mrs. A. Dean Perry 1962.279.301.b

Location

not on view

Fun Fact

This story takes place in Balkh, a city in northern Afghanistan.

Description

The seated wise man drops a small, red shell into the final friend’s outstretched hands. He then instructs each of them to go out into the world and walk until the shell falls to the ground. If the man digs where the shell lands, he will find something to sustain him.

Provenance

?–1959

Estate of Breckinridge Long [1881–1958], Bowie, MD ¹

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

¹Samuel 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.