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

Created in 1560 within the Mughal Empire, this text page from the Tuti-nama represents a significant artifact of early Mughal manuscript illumination. The work is attributed to an unknown artist, reflecting the collaborative nature of imperial workshops where individual attribution was often secondary to the collective output of the court. As part of the Cleveland Museum of Art's collection, the page serves as a primary example of the transition in Persianate painting styles under early Mughal patronage.

Its survival provides critical evidence for scholars studying the textual and visual interplay in sixteenth-century Indian manuscripts, illustrating the era's synthesis of literary tradition and artistic innovation.

This object is a single leaf from the illustrated manuscript known as Tales of a Parrot (Tuti‑nama). The page consists of dense black calligraphy arranged in orderly rows, bordered by a thin red strip and an inner blue line. The support is aged paper, yellowed with time and bearing faint stains, indicating its historic use as a textual rather than pictorial surface.

The calligraphy is executed in a uniform black ink, each character rendered with meticulous attention to proportion and spacing. The decorative borders, red outer edge and a narrower blue inner line, frame the text and reflect a modest ornamental practice common in Persian and South Asian manuscript traditions.