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Khulasa, a vizier, sees the daughter of Khassa, another vizier, and covets her, from a Tuti-nama (Tales of a Parrot): Fifty-first Night

Unknown

1560

unspecified

From the collection of Cleveland Museum of Art

Mughal Painting Renaissance Renaissance

Dominant colour

Khulasa, a vizier, sees the daughter of Khassa, another vizier, and covets her, from a Tuti-nama (Tales of a Parrot): Fifty-first 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 man in a garden watching a woman pray on a rug. He touches his finger to his lips, surprised. The woman doesn’t notice him. This painting comes from a book of parrot tales told in Mughal India. The story says the man falls for her but knows she won’t marry him. The bright colors and tiny details show how artists decorated royal books back then. To see more like this, look up *Mughal India, court of Akbar (reigned 1556–1605)*.

The story of this work

Overview

Khulasa watches Khassa’s daughter as she kneels devoutly on a prayer rug in the garden. He touches his index finger to his mouth, signaling his awe and surprise. Despite his love, Khulasa knows that the woman is chaste and will not agree to marry him.