The Cleveland Museum of Art

Collection Online as of December 21, 2025

Vertically oriented book page with Persian script in the lower third and an image in the upper two thirds depicting a man sleeping under a tree as three men kneel over him to our left and a fourth our right, stealing something from the man's side. All the men have light skin tones. Wearing blue, the sleeping man leans his face against his right hand, a tree trunk composed of intertwining tendrils rising behind his head, white, long-necked birds sitting in its leaves.

The street cleaner, on his way to meet King Bhojaraja, sleeps under a tree where four thieves disguised as fellow travelers deprive him of a priceless pearl, from a Tuti-nama (Tales of a Parrot): Twelfth 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: 10.5 x 10.4 cm (4 1/8 x 4 1/8 in.)
Gift of Mrs. A. Dean Perry 1962.279.97.a
Location: 242B Indian Painting

Did You Know?

The body of the thief has been overpainted and repositioned.

Description

Many scholars consider the diminutive Tuti-nama to have been one of the first illustrated manuscripts made for Akbar, on which Indian artists worked with Persian masters to formulate a new style that their exacting emperor appreciated. The new Mughal style would be used to create the monumental Hamza-nama and hundreds of other Mughal manuscripts. There are many continuities between the Tuti-nama and the Hamza-nama, such as the image of a recumbent figure under a magnificent tree.
  • ?–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, 111
    Seyller, John. “Overpainting in the Cleveland T̤ūtīnāma.” Artibus Asiae 52, no. 3/4 (1992): 283-318. p. 313 www.jstor.org
  • Indian Painting of the 1500s: Continuities and Transformations. The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH (organizer) (March 15, 2025-January 11, 2026).
    Main Gallery Rotation (Gallery 245). The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH (April 28-November 2, 2015).
    Indian Miniature Rotation (Gallery 115). The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH (August 18, 2004-May 23, 2005).
    Indian Miniature Rotation (Gallery 115). The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH (August 13, 2003-February 18, 2004).
  • {{cite web|title=The street cleaner, on his way to meet King Bhojaraja, sleeps under a tree where four thieves disguised as fellow travelers deprive him of a priceless pearl, from a Tuti-nama (Tales of a Parrot): Twelfth Night|url=false|author=|year=c. 1560|access-date=21 December 2025|publisher=Cleveland Museum of Art}}

Source URL:

https://www.clevelandart.org/art/1962.279.97.a