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The parrot addresses Khujasta at the beginning of the fortieth 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 fortieth 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 red dress standing in a garden, talking to a bright green parrot perched on a branch. This painting comes from a book of stories called the *Tuti-nama*, or *Tales of a Parrot*. The parrot isn’t just a bird—it’s a storyteller, trying to keep the woman from sneaking out to meet her lover by telling her a tale of its own. The garden feels alive, with flowers and trees framing the scene like a stage. If you like this, look up *mughal india, court of akbar (reigned 1556–1605)*.

The story of this work

Overview

As Khujasta prepares to leave to spend the night with her lover, she is stopped by Tuti the parrot. Tuti begins to tell her the story of a merchant’s wife, named Shahr-Arai, who tricked her husband in order to carry out an affair. The story is set in Nishapur, a city in northeast Iran.