Open full image Pin

The Parrot Addresses Khujasta at the Beginning of the Nineteenth Night, from a Tuti-nama (Tales of a Parrot)

Unknown

1560

unspecified

From the collection of Cleveland Museum of Art

Mughal Painting Renaissance Renaissance

Dominant colour

The Parrot Addresses Khujasta at the Beginning of the Nineteenth Night, from a Tuti-nama (Tales of a Parrot) 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 woman in a blue robe sitting on a tiled floor, listening to a bright green parrot perched on a stand. This painting is from a book of parrot tales told over 52 nights. The parrot spins stories to keep the woman from sneaking out at night. The gold and green tiles and swirling patterns show older Persian styles mixing with Indian colors. To see more like this, look up mughal india, court of akbar (reigned 1556–1605).

The story of this work

Overview

Tuti the parrot begins to tell Khujasta a story about the importance of keeping secrets. The green and gold tiled floor, mauve background, and arabesque, yellow band are vestiges of an earlier paining tradition.