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The daughter of the merchant of Mazanderan asks the gardener for the rose, from a Tuti-nama (Tales of a Parrot): Twelfth Night

Unknown

1560

unspecified

From the collection of Cleveland Museum of Art

Mughal Painting Renaissance Renaissance

Dominant colour

The daughter of the merchant of Mazanderan asks the gardener for the rose, from a Tuti-nama (Tales of a Parrot): Twelfth Night is a 1560 unspecified by Unknown, a Mughal Painting work, held at Cleveland Museum of Art.

Who painted this?: Unknown
When & what style?: 1560 · Mughal Painting
Where can I see it?: Cleveland Museum of Art

About this work

A woman in a stiff, gold-trimmed robe kneels in a garden, pointing at a rose held by a gardener. Behind them, a servant waits with a tray of sweets. The trees are flat, bright green shapes against a plain background. This painting comes from a book of 52 parrot tales read right to left. The artist kept older Persian styles—figures in sharp profile, bold outlines, no deep space. It was made for Emperor Akbar’s court, where artists mixed Persian and Indian traditions. Look up *Mughal India, court of Akbar (reigned 1556–1605)* to see more work from this time.

The story of this work

Overview

Persian books are read from right to left. One artist illustrated the three scenes from one of the 52 stories of the Tuti-nama , retaining many pre-Mughal traits. Trees stand out as bold shapes, and figures are arranged in a single register, or horizontal spatial band, and have angular and expressive gestures. The figures of the women are closely related to pre-Mughal types, shown always in profile and wearing garments that stand stiffly and sharply out before them. In leaves from the Tuti-nama , Mughal artists adapted the colors, compositions, and figure types of the earlier style.