Page from Tales of a Parrot (Tuti-nama): text page

The Page from Tales of a Parrot (Tuti-nama) is a text page painted around 1560 in the Mughal Empire by an unidentified artist. Its inception is recorded as 1560-01-01. It is presently housed in the Cleveland Museum of Art, where it is recorded under accession number 1962.279.221.b. The sources do not record any earlier owners, commissions, or subsequent transfers of the work, so its provenance prior to entering the museum’s collection remains undocumented.

The page from Tales of a Parrot (Tuti-nama) is held by the Cleveland Museum of Art. Its inventory number is 1962.279.221.b. The work entered the museum's collection as a painting dating to 1560 and was produced in the Mughal Empire. No exhibition history is documented in the available sources.

This object is a single leaf from a 16th‑century manuscript titled Tales of a Parrot (Tuti‑nama). The page consists solely of text, rendered in black ink on a light‑beige parchment, and is framed by a narrow red border. Decorative, flowing script dominates the surface, with occasional words highlighted in red, suggesting emphasis or annotation. The fragment is part of a larger codex, the surrounding leaves of which continue the narrative.

The manuscript’s title implies a collection of stories narrated by a parrot, a motif common in Persian and Central Asian literary traditions. Although the language of the text is not immediately identifiable, the ornamental script and use of red for emphasis indicate a work intended for a cultured audience, possibly conveying moral or didactic tales through the voice of a talking bird.

During the mid‑1500s, illustrated and text‑only manuscripts circulated among courts and scholarly circles, often serving as entertainment or moral instruction. The Tuti‑nama fits within a broader tradition of animal‑narrated literature, echoing works such as the Kalila wa Dimna and other fable collections that used animal protagonists to explore human virtues and vices.