The king plucks fruit from the Tree of Life with his own hands and feeds it to a lady, from a Tuti-nama (Tales of a Parrot): Ninth Night

Created around 1560 within the Mughal Empire, this painting illustrates a scene from the Ninth Night of the Tuti-nama (Tales of a Parrot). The work is attributed to an unknown artist and is currently held in the collection of the Cleveland Museum of Art. As part of the Tuti-nama manuscript tradition, the piece represents the early phase of Mughal painting, a period characterized by the synthesis of Persian artistic conventions with emerging local Indian styles.

The specific subject matter, depicting a king feeding a lady from the Tree of Life, reflects the manuscript's role in conveying moral and allegorical narratives through visual storytelling. While the individual creator remains unidentified in historical records, the artwork stands as a significant example of sixteenth-century imperial patronage and the development of the Mughal atelier system.

The work illustrates a narrative scene from the ninth night of the Persian illustrated manuscript known as the Tuti‑nama, or Tales of a Parrot. Central to the composition is a king reaching up to pluck bright yellow fruit from a laden tree and offering it to a lady, while a child watches the exchange. The picture is framed by a decorative border of text that identifies the episode.

The image captures a moment of generosity and courtly interaction, typical of the moral tales in the Tuti‑nama, where the king’s act of feeding the lady symbolizes benevolent rule. The presence of a small child suggests the transmission of these virtues to the next generation, while the caged bird in the background alludes to the story’s title.