Artwork
Shahr-Arai’s husband bends to kiss his wife who feigns sleep, from a Tuti-nama (Tales of a Parrot): Fortieth Night
Shahr-Arai’s husband bends to kiss his wife who feigns sleep, from a Tuti-nama (Tales of a Parrot): Fortieth Night is an unspecified painting. It dates from 1560 and is held in the collection of the Cleveland Museum of Art.
About this work
Subject & Meaning
The painting illustrates a scene from the Fortieth Night of the Tuti-nama (Tales of a Parrot), depicting Shahr-Arai's husband bending down to kiss his wife, who is feigning sleep. Created in 1560 within the Mughal Empire, the work visualizes a specific narrative moment where the husband attempts to reconcile with his spouse through a gesture of affection. The subject captures the tension between the husband's desire for intimacy and the wife's deliberate pretense, a common theme in the Tuti-nama where stories serve as moral lessons on fidelity and deception.
The iconography focuses on the physical proximity of the couple and the contrast between the husband's active posture and the wife's stillness, symbolizing the complex dynamics of marital trust and the power of feigned ignorance.
History & Provenance
Created in 1560 within the Mughal Empire, this painting illustrates an episode from the Fortieth Night of the Tuti-nama (Tales of a Parrot).
Created in 1560 within the Mughal Empire, this painting illustrates an episode from the Fortieth Night of the Tuti-nama (Tales of a Parrot). The work is attributed to an unknown artist. It subsequently entered the collection of the Cleveland Museum of Art, where it is cataloged under the accession number 1962.279.261.b.
The painting depicting Shahr-Arai’s husband bending to kiss his feigning wife is held in the collection of the Cleveland Museum of Art. The work is cataloged under the accession number 1962.279.261.b. Created in 1560 within the Mughal Empire, the piece remains part of the museum's permanent holdings.
Overview
The work is a miniature painting illustrating a scene from the Persian narrative collection Tuti‑nama (Tales of a Parrot), specifically the episode titled “Fortieth Night.” It depicts a husband leaning over his reclining wife, who pretends to be asleep, while he attempts a kiss. The composition is framed by a patterned interior and a lattice‑type window, with Arabic calligraphy positioned above the figures.
Technique & Style
Executed in the traditional Persian miniature style, the painting employs bright, saturated pigments, red, blue, yellow, and gold, applied in fine, flat washes. Decorative patterns cover the walls and the lattice window, while the figures are rendered with delicate line work and precise detailing of jewelry and textiles, characteristic of courtly manuscript illumination.
Artist & collection
- Shahr-Arai’s husband bends to kiss his wife who feigns sleep, from a Tuti-nama (Tales of a Parrot): Fortieth Night
Shahr-Arai and her lover dallying on a bed beneath which is concealed her husband, from a Tuti-nama (Tales of a Parrot): Fortieth Night
Shahr-Arai and her lover dallying on a bed beneath which is concealed her husband, from a Tuti-nama (Tales of a Parrot): Fortieth Night
The deceitful wife persuades her husband to sleep in the same place where she had previously slept with her lover, from a Tuti-nama (Tales of a Parrot): Eighth Night
Shahr-Arai and her husband adopt her lover as a brother in the family, from a Tuti-nama (Tales of a Parrot): Fortieth Night
Shahr-Arai and her husband adopt her lover as a brother in the family, from a Tuti-nama (Tales of a Parrot): Fortieth Night
The farmer, father of the son with the deceitful wife, steals away with her anklet while she is in bed with her lover, from a Tuti-nama (Tales of a Parrot): Eighth Night
Khurshid reunited with her husband Utarid, from a Tuti-nama (Tales of a Parrot): Thirty-second Night
The pious man’s wife offers the seven-colored bird as food to her lover, but not finding its head, he breaks the pot and bowl in anger, from a Tuti-nama (Tales of a Parrot): Fifty-second Night
Mahrusa’s marriage to the prefect of the city, from a Tuti-nama (Tales of a Parrot): Thirty-sixth Night
The marriage of ‘Ubaid, son of a merchant of Tirmiz, from a Tuti-nama (Tales of a Parrot): Forty-second Night
In order to falsely implicate her husband, Hamnaz places a knife by his side and lets the blood dripping from her nose stain his clothes, from a Tuti-nama (Tales of a Parrot): Twenty-fifth Night
In order to falsely implicate her husband, Hamnaz places a knife by his side and lets the blood dripping from her nose stain his clothes, from a Tuti-nama (Tales of a Parrot): Twenty-fifth Night
Khalis repays the prince for his kindness by changing into a snake and sucking the poison from the king’s daughter, from a Tuti-nama (Tales of a Parrot): Eighteenth Night
The king of Zabul sees Mahrusa from his palace balcony, from a Tuti-nama (Tales of a Parrot): Thirty-sixth Night
The king of Zabul sees Mahrusa from his palace balcony, from a Tuti-nama (Tales of a Parrot): Thirty-sixth Night
Khalis repays the prince for his kindness by changing into a snake and sucking the poison from the king’s daughter, from a Tuti-nama (Tales of a Parrot): Eighteenth Night
Kaiwan sends a message of love to Khurshid, wife of his brother Utarid who is away on a journey, from a Tuti-nama (Tales of a Parrot): Thirty-second Night