Collection Online as of July 7, 2022

The king plucks fruit from the Tree of Life with his own hands and feeds it to a lady, from a Tuti-nama (Tales of a Parrot): Ninth Night

c. 1560

Part of a set. See all set records

Suraju

(Indian)

Mughal India, court of Akbar

(reigned 1556–1605)

Gum tempera, ink, and gold on paper

Painting only: 7.7 x 10.1 cm (3 1/16 x 4 in.); Overall: 20 x 13.4 cm (7 7/8 x 5 1/4 in.)

Gift of Mrs. A. Dean Perry 1962.279.79.a

Location

not on view

Fun Fact

Black pom-poms on the woman's shoes, braid, and jewelry indicate the ends of ties.

Description

In order to prevent his own execution, the loyal parrot must prove to the king that the fruit of the Tree of Life is not poisonous. When the fruit restores the youth of an old man, the parrot is vindicated. He watches from his cage, alongside other members of the court, as the king happily picks from the tree.

Inscriptions

Inscription

[su]rjū

Inscription Translation

(by) Suraju

Provenance

Estate of Breckenridge Long, Bowie, MD, 1959; Harry Burke Antiques, Philadelphia, PA; Bernard Brown, Milwaukee, WI;

Citations

Chandra, Pramod, and Daniel J. Ehnbom. The Cleveland Tuti-Nama Manuscript and the Origins of Mughal Painting. [Cleveland]: Cleveland Museum of Art, 1976.

p. 108

Chandra, Pramod, and Daniel J. Ehnbom. The Cleveland Tuti-Nama Manuscript and the Origins of Mughal Painting. [Cleveland]: Cleveland Museum of Art, 1976. pp. 78, 108

Seyller, John. “Overpainting in the Cleveland T̤ūtīnāma.” Artibus Asiae 52, no. 3/4 (1992): 283-318. p. 313 www.jstor.org