The Cleveland Museum of Art
Collection Online as of September 14, 2024
The Parrot Addresses Khujasta at the Beginning of the Eleventh Night, from a Tuti-nama (Tales of a Parrot)
c. 1560
(Indian, active 1550s-1590s)
Painting only: 7.7 x 10.1 cm (3 1/16 x 4 in.); Overall: 20.1 x 13.6 cm (7 15/16 x 5 3/8 in.)
Gift of Mrs. A. Dean Perry 1962.279.87.a
Location: not on view
Did You Know?
Two painters named Banavari are known to have been active during the Akbar period.Description
When the lover of the ocean—the sun—entered his place of retirement in the west and the beloved of the stars— the moon—came out of the bride’s apartment in the east, Khujasta with eyes wet like the sea and tears like brilliant gems went to Tuti to ask his permission to leave. . . .Eleven days and nights have come and gone since Khujasta fell for a local prince. Each night, having prepared herself for a lovers’ rendezvous, her husband’s pet parrot has beguiled her into staying up all night listening to his stories at home. On this night, he tells her that it is good that she has sought his advice on going out, for “[Anyone] who seeks counsel in regard to his affairs and secures advice on his problems will see exactly what the Brahman saw.”
Unable to stem her curiosity, she asks the parrot what he saw.
- ?–1959Estate of Breckinridge Long [1881–1958], Bowie, MD1959–1962?(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, OHProvenance Footnotes1 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. 109Chandra, Pramod, and Daniel J. Ehnbom. The Cleveland Tuti-Nama Manuscript and the Origins of Mughal Painting. [Cleveland]: Cleveland Museum of Art, 1976. pp. 78, 109Seyller, John. “Overpainting in the Cleveland T̤ūtīnāma.” Artibus Asiae 52, no. 3/4 (1992): 283-318. p. 313 www.jstor.org
- Animal Fables of India (Indian art rotation). The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH (organizer) (March 12-August 29, 2021).
- {{cite web|title=The Parrot Addresses Khujasta at the Beginning of the Eleventh Night, from a Tuti-nama (Tales of a Parrot)|url=false|author=Banavari 2|year=c. 1560|access-date=14 September 2024|publisher=Cleveland Museum of Art}}
Source URL:
https://www.clevelandart.org/art/1962.279.87.a