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Bashir confides his love for Habbaza to an Arab friend, and sends him to her with a message, from a Tuti-nama (Tales of a Parrot): Twenty-fourth Night

Unknown

1560

unspecified

From the collection of Cleveland Museum of Art

Mughal Painting Renaissance Renaissance

Dominant colour

Bashir confides his love for Habbaza to an Arab friend, and sends him to her with a message, from a Tuti-nama (Tales of a Parrot): Twenty-fourth Night is a 1560 unspecified by Unknown, a Mughal Painting work, held at Cleveland Museum of Art.

Who painted this?: Unknown
When & what style?: 1560 · Mughal Painting
Where can I see it?: Cleveland Museum of Art

About this work

You see a busy scene: a man in orange whispers to a friend, sending a secret love note to a woman in a striped tent. This painting comes from a book of parrot tales told in Mughal India. The bright colors and tiny details—like surprised villagers pointing—show how news spreads fast in small communities. It’s like a 16th-century gossip snapshot. To see more art like this, look up *Mughal India, court of Akbar (reigned 1556–1605)*.

The story of this work

Overview

In the upper register, Bahir, dressed in orange, conveys a message to his friend for his lover Habbaza. Habbaza herself, who is married to another man, waits for the message in her tent. Other villagers appear throughout the painting, some gesturing in surprise, signaling how news of the clandestine affair spread among the people of Habbaza’s tribe.