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

The page from the Tuti-nama, produced in the Mughal Empire around 1560, belongs to a manuscript tradition that helped shape the visual language of later illustrated Persian and Indo-Persian works, contributing to courtly narrative painting across South and Central Asia. The work is held in the collection of the Cleveland Museum of Art.

This object is a single folio from the illustrated manuscript known as Tales of a Parrot (Tuti‑nama). Rendered as a painted page, it presents dense black calligraphy on a pale beige ground, framed by thin red and blue bands that define a rectangular border.

The page contains a segment of the narrative that recounts moral and romantic episodes centered on a talking parrot, a popular motif in Persian literary tradition. The text was composed for Prince Salim, indicating a courtly audience and a didactic purpose within the larger story.

Ink is applied in a fluid, continuous hand, producing tightly packed lines of script that convey both readability and decorative intent. The surrounding borders employ a limited palette of red and blue pigments, applied in flat washes that contrast with the monochrome text, reflecting miniature manuscript aesthetics of the Safavid period.