Artwork
The merchant has the hateful skull ground and put into a box, from a Tuti-nama (Tales of a Parrot): Twenty-third Night
The merchant has the hateful skull ground and put into a box, from a Tuti-nama (Tales of a Parrot): Twenty-third Night is an unspecified painting. It dates from 1560 and is held in the collection of the Cleveland Museum of Art. The work is a painted panel from the illustrated manuscript known as the Tuti‑nama, or Tales of a Parrot, created for Prince Salim.
About this work
Subject & Meaning
The painting shows a merchant placing a hateful skull into a box, an episode from the Twenty‑third Night of the Tuti‑nama.
The painting shows a merchant placing a hateful skull into a box, an episode from the Twenty‑third Night of the Tuti‑nama. The skull functions as a symbolic representation of malice that is being contained and neutralized, reflecting themes of moral restraint and the transitory nature of hatred within the narrative frame. Executed circa 1560 in the Mughal cultural sphere, the work combines narrative illustration with a didactic visual allegory, using the skull’s placement to comment on the control of destructive impulses.
History & Provenance
The painting, titled "The merchant has the hateful skull ground and put into a box, from a Tuti-nama (Tales of a Parrot): Twenty-third Night," was created in 1560 within the Mughal Empire. It is attributed to an unknown artist and forms part of a manuscript illumination series. The work is currently held in the collection of the Cleveland Museum of Art, where it is cataloged under the accession number 1962.279.161.a.
No further details regarding its original commission, specific patron, or the intermediate steps of its ownership chain prior to its acquisition by the museum are provided in the available records.
The painting is held in the Cleveland Museum of Art, where it forms part of the museum’s permanent collection. It is cataloged under accession number 1962.279.161.a.
While the work’s origins trace to the Mughal Empire in 1560, its exhibition history remains largely undocumented in available sources. The Cleveland Museum of Art has not publicly listed specific exhibitions featuring this folio from the Tuti-nama series.
Overview
The work is a painted panel from the illustrated manuscript known as the Tuti‑nama, or Tales of a Parrot, created for Prince Salim. It portrays a domestic interior where four figures, two men and two women, are seated on a patterned floor of blue and white tiles, set against a red wall with a window and a yellow border at the top of the composition.
Technique & Style
Executed in miniature painting style, the panel employs fine brushwork and a limited yet vivid palette of reds, blues, oranges, purples, yellows and greens. The patterned floor and decorative border reflect the Persian manuscript tradition, while the careful rendering of clothing and gestures conveys a sense of intimacy within the confined space.
Context
The Tuti‑nama belongs to a genre of illustrated storybooks that flourished in the Mughal empire, blending Persian literary themes with Indian courtly aesthetics. Such works were used for both entertainment and moral instruction, and their lavish illustrations reflected the patron’s status and the sophisticated artistic workshops of the period.
Artist & collection
- The merchant has the hateful skull ground and put into a box, from a Tuti-nama (Tales of a Parrot): Twenty-third Night
The merchant’s daughter gives birth to a son as a result of eating out of the box. The clever child recognizes the false gems from true, from a Tuti-nama (Tales of a Parrot): Twenty-third Night
The merchant’s daughter gives birth to a son as a result of eating out of the box. The clever child recognizes the false gems from true, from a Tuti-nama (Tales of a Parrot): Twenty-third Night
The three suitors again begin to quarrel among themselves for the hand of the devotee’s daughter, from a Tuti-nama (Tales of a Parrot): Twentieth Night
The third suitor strikes the devotee’s daughter and thus restores her to life, from a Tuti-nama (Tales of a Parrot): Twentieth Night
The monk returns the magic parrot to its rightful owner, the merchant, from a Tuti-nama (Tales of a Parrot): Tenth Night
Kamjuy, the wife of the Raja, averts her face from the fishes, from a Tuti-nama (Tales of a Parrot): Twenty-third Night
The vizier’s son receives the magic wooden parrot from the wife of the merchant, who is drunk, and has a replica made by a carpenter, from a Tuti-nama (Tales of a Parrot): Tenth Night
Three suitors fight amongst themselves for the hand of the devotee’s daughter, from a Tuti-nama (Tales of a Parrot): Twentieth Night
