The Cleveland Museum of Art

Collection Online as of December 21, 2025

King Bahram, who has married Khassa’s daughter, has her tied to a camel to be abandoned in the desert as a result of false accusations made by Khulasa, from a Tuti-nama (Tales of a Parrot): Fifty-first 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: 7.4 x 10.3 cm (2 15/16 x 4 1/16 in.)
Gift of Mrs. A. Dean Perry 1962.279.328.a
Location: Not on view

Did You Know?

The king is compared to Rustam, a legendary Persian warrior.

Description

The king, seated on a long-legged throne, furiously orders his wife’s execution. Khulasa, the king’s vizier, has attempted and failed to seduce her. Spurned by the queen’s rejection, he accuses her of committing adultery with another member of the court. At the center of the scene, a minister implores the king to abandon his wife, rather than have her beheaded.
  • ?–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. pp. 79, 149
    Nakhshabī, Z̤iyāʼ al-Dīn, and Muhammed Ahmed Simsar. Tales of a Parrot = The Cleveland Museum of Art's Ṭūṭīnāma. Cleveland: The Museum, 1978. pp. 315-22
  • {{cite web|title=King Bahram, who has married Khassa’s daughter, has her tied to a camel to be abandoned in the desert as a result of false accusations made by Khulasa, from a Tuti-nama (Tales of a Parrot): Fifty-first Night|url=false|author=|year=c. 1560|access-date=21 December 2025|publisher=Cleveland Museum of Art}}

Source URL:

https://www.clevelandart.org/art/1962.279.328.a