The Cleveland Museum of Art

Collection Online as of April 20, 2024

The husband berates his wife for purchasing gravel instead of sugar, from a Tuti-nama (Tales of a Parrot): Eighth Night

The husband berates his wife for purchasing gravel instead of sugar, from a Tuti-nama (Tales of a Parrot): Eighth Night

c. 1560
(reigned 1556–1605)
gum tempera, ink, and gold on paper
Painting only: 11.7 x 10.2 cm (4 5/8 x 4 in.); Overall: 20 x 14.4 cm (7 7/8 x 5 11/16 in.)
Gift of Mrs. A. Dean Perry 1962.279.70.b
Location: not on view

Did You Know?

The arched horizon, arabesque clouds, and mauve background are derived from earlier Indo-Persian painting traditions.

Description

After a brief romantic encounter with a merchant, an unfaithful wife returns home to discover that the merchant's clerk replaced her sugar with gravel. Her husband demanded to know why she brought him a bag of dirt. In response, the wily adulteress concocts a quick lie that he readily accepts.
  • ?–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, OH: The Cleveland Museum of Art, 1976. pp. 105–106
    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. p. 105
    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, 105
    Nakhshabī, Z̤iyāʼ al-Dīn, and Muhammed Ahmed Simsar, translator and editor. Tales of a Parrot = The Cleveland Museum of Art's Ṭūṭīnāma. Cleveland, OH: The Museum, 1978. pp. 55–68
    Seyller, John. “Overpainting in the Cleveland T̤ūtīnāma.” Artibus Asiae 52, no. 3/4 (1992): 283-318. p. 312
  • {{cite web|title=The husband berates his wife for purchasing gravel instead of sugar, from a Tuti-nama (Tales of a Parrot): Eighth Night|url=false|author=|year=c. 1560|access-date=20 April 2024|publisher=Cleveland Museum of Art}}

Source URL:

https://www.clevelandart.org/art/1962.279.70.b