1560
unspecified
From the collection of Cleveland Museum of Art
Dominant colour
The donkey, in a tiger’s skin, reveals his identity by braying aloud, from a Tuti-nama (Tales of a Parrot): Thirty-first Night is a 1560 unspecified by Basawan, a Patna School of Painting work, held at Cleveland Museum of Art.
You see a donkey in a striped tiger skin, braying at the sky while two men cling to tree branches above him. This painting tells a funny story from a book called the *Tuti-nama*, or *Tales of a Parrot*. The donkey’s owner dressed him as a tiger to scare people away so he could eat their crops. It worked—until another donkey’s call gave him away. If you like this kind of storytelling art, look up Mughal India, court of Akbar (reigned 1556–1605).
This painting illustrates a story about a merchant who owned a donkey but did not have enough money to feed him. He was able to secure a tiger’s skin, in which he dressed his donkey at night, so he could forage freely in fields, frightening away the owners’ watchmen, seen here scrambling up in trees for safety. He succeeded for a time and grew fat and healthy, until a nearby donkey brayed, and he instinctively answered, revealing his true identity.
The complex brushwork, soft grass, and furry tiger’s skin are characteristics of the artist Basavana’s distinctive style.
Read the full account in the museum source.
Basāwan, or Basāvan, was an Indian miniature painter in the Mughal style. He was known by his contemporaries as a skilled colorist and keen observer of human nature, and for his use of portraiture in the illustrations…
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