Artwork
Page from Tales of a Parrot (Tuti-nama): text page
Page from Tales of a Parrot (Tuti-nama): text page is an unspecified painting. It dates from 1560 and is held in the collection of the Cleveland Museum of Art. This object is a single sheet from the illustrated manuscript known as Tales of a Parrot, or Tuti‑nama.
About this work
Subject & Meaning
The page depicts a narrative excerpt from the Tuti-nama, a Persian collection of moral tales, rendered in Mughal artistic style during the mid-16th century.
The page depicts a narrative excerpt from the Tuti-nama, a Persian collection of moral tales, rendered in Mughal artistic style during the mid-16th century. The text illustrates a story involving a parrot, conveying moral lessons through its allegorical content. As part of a manuscript, the page reflects the cultural and literary milieu of the Mughal Empire, emphasizing themes of wisdom and moral instruction through its symbolic storytelling.
Technique & Style
This 1560 painting was created in the Mughal Empire using opaque watercolor, ink, and gold on paper. The work exemplifies the refined manuscript illumination typical of Mughal court production, combining precise calligraphic text with luxurious mineral pigments and gold leaf. The opaque watercolor technique allows for saturated, jewel-like colors that remain vivid, while the gold accents emphasize the page's status as a deluxe commission.
The support is paper, a medium that facilitated the detailed brushwork and fine line characteristic of Mughal atelier practice. The integration of text and image follows the conventions of Persianate book arts adapted under Mughal patronage.
History & Provenance
Created in 1560 within the Mughal Empire, this text page from the Tuti-nama (Tales of a Parrot) was produced by an artist whose specific identity remains unrecorded. The work entered the collection of the Cleveland Museum of Art, where it is cataloged under the accession number 1962.279.255.b. While the exact circumstances of its original commission and the intermediate ownership history prior to its museum acquisition are not detailed in the available records, the piece is firmly established as a mid-sixteenth-century Mughal painting held in Cleveland.
Overview
This object is a single sheet from the illustrated manuscript known as Tales of a Parrot, or Tuti‑nama. The page functions as a painted text page, featuring dense black calligraphy arranged in tight, orderly rows across a warm‑toned, slightly yellowed paper. A slender blue border runs along the margins, containing the script within a subtle frame.
Artist & collection
- Page from Tales of a Parrot (Tuti-nama): text page
Page from Tales of a Parrot (Tuti-nama): text page
Page from Tales of a Parrot (Tuti-nama): text page
Page from Tales of a Parrot (Tuti-nama): text page
Page from Tales of a Parrot (Tuti-nama): text page
Page from Tales of a Parrot (Tuti-nama): text page
Page from Tales of a Parrot (Tuti-nama): text page
Page from Tales of a Parrot (Tuti-nama): text page
Page from Tales of a Parrot (Tuti-nama): text page
Page from Tales of a Parrot (Tuti-nama): text page
Page from Tales of a Parrot (Tuti-nama): text page
Page from Tales of a Parrot (Tuti-nama): text page