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The magician, disguised as a Brahman, visits the king of Babylon, from a Tuti-nama (Tales of a Parrot): Thirty-fifth Night

Unknown

1560

unspecified

From the collection of Cleveland Museum of Art

Mughal Painting Renaissance Renaissance

Dominant colour

The magician, disguised as a Brahman, visits the king of Babylon, from a Tuti-nama (Tales of a Parrot): Thirty-fifth 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

You see a king on a throne, a woman in a blue robe, and a man in a turban bowing. Bright colors, tiny patterns, and gold leaf make the scene feel rich. This painting comes from a book of parrot tales made for Emperor Akbar. Some think the king is actually Akbar himself, playing a role from the story. The artist hid clues in the details—like the way the woman’s sari drapes—that show off Mughal court life. To see more like this, look up Mughal India, court of Akbar (reigned 1556–1605).

The story of this work

Overview

The king of Babylon, seated on a throne, receives the Brahman in the form of a woman and the magician in the form of a Brahman. The king agrees to keep the woman (the transformed Brahman) temporarily in his harem as a favor to the Brahman (the disguised magician). Scholars have identified this image as a portrait of Akbar, the third Mughal emperor of India, and the commissioner of this manuscript. He is thought to be identifying himself as the king of Babylon, regarded in the Islamic world as an ancient center of power and culture. In this story, however, the king fell victim to the trickery…