1560
unspecified
From the collection of Cleveland Museum of Art
The hunter offers the mother parrot to the king of Kamarupa, from a Tuti-nama (Tales of a Parrot): Fifth Night is a 1560 unspecified by Basawan, a Patna School of Painting work, held at Cleveland Museum of Art.
You see a hunter handing a bright green parrot to a seated king, while courtiers watch under a golden sky. This scene comes from a book of parrot tales made for Emperor Akbar. The king in the story had leprosy, and the hunter promised the parrot knew a cure. The artist signed his name in tiny script along the right edge—proof he was proud of the work. To see more paintings like this, look up Mughal India, court of Akbar (reigned 1556–1605).
The king of Kamarupa, which ironically means “body of erotic love,” had leprosy. The hunter brought the captured mother parrot to the king, assuring him that the bird knew a cure. The lavish use of gold indicates that this book was a costly production. The figure of the hunter reveals the talents of the artist Basavana, whose name is written in the right margin. Draped in rustic garments shaded to appear softly flowing, the hunter bends forward with a subtle look of shrewd expectancy as the king seems ready to pay a high price for the parrot. The billowing red curtain is one of Basavana’s…
This leper king ruled a territory that stretched from Bhutan to Assam and Bengal.
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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