The Cleveland Museum of Art

Collection Online as of December 24, 2025

The guard restores the son who falls at his mother’s feet, from a Tuti-nama (Tales of a Parrot): Fiftieth 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: 10 x 10 cm (3 15/16 x 3 15/16 in.)
Gift of Mrs. A. Dean Perry 1962.279.323.b
Location: Not on view

Did You Know?

The garden is decorated with a row of alternating banana and cypress trees.

Description

The princess of Rum is overjoyed to discover that her son is alive. The king had ordered the young man’s execution after wrongly believing him to be his wife’s lover. The guard, who spared the young man’s life, is generously rewarded for his kindness.
  • ?–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. 148
    Chandra, Pramod, and Daniel J. Ehnbom. The Cleveland Tuti-Nama Manuscript and the Origins of Mughal Painting. [Cleveland]: Cleveland Museum of Art, 1976. pp. 79, 148
  • {{cite web|title=The guard restores the son who falls at his mother’s feet, from a Tuti-nama (Tales of a Parrot): Fiftieth Night|url=false|author=|year=c. 1560|access-date=24 December 2025|publisher=Cleveland Museum of Art}}

Source URL:

https://www.clevelandart.org/art/1962.279.323.b