The parrot addresses Khujasta at the beginning of the thirty-first night, from a Tuti-nama (Tales of a Parrot)

The work belongs to the Mughal painting tradition, executed circa 1560 in the imperial atelier of the Mughal Empire. It illustrates the parrot addressing Khujasta at the beginning of the thirty-first night of the Tuti-nama. The painting is preserved in the Cleveland Museum of Art, where it is catalogued under accession number 1962.279.203.b and attributed to an anonymous artist.

Its composition reflects the Persianate storytelling mode introduced into Indian manuscript illumination through Timurid and Persian artistic exchange, situating it within the broader trajectory of sixteenth-century manuscript production.

The work's significance rests on its role within the Tuti-nama manuscript tradition and its presence in a major museum collection. Part of the Cleveland Museum of Art's holdings and catalogued as 1962.279.203.b, it was created in the Mughal Empire around 1560 as one leaf of the larger illustrated manuscript.

The work depicts a woman dressed in a vivid red garment, kneeling on a patterned floor within an interior space. A tiled wall frames the scene, and a small balcony opens to a ledge where a green parrot perches. Above the figures, Arabic calligraphy intertwines with a decorative border rendered in gold and red.

Executed with bold chromatic choices, the painting employs saturated reds, deep blues, and luminous golds that enliven the interior. The patterned floor and tiled wall are rendered with precise linear decoration, while the ornamental border combines geometric motifs with flowing Arabic script, reflecting a synthesis of narrative illustration and decorative art.