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The soldier receives a garland of roses from his wife which will remain fresh as long as she is faithful, from a Tuti-nama (Tales of a Parrot): Fourth Night

Unknown

1560

unspecified

From the collection of Cleveland Museum of Art

Mughal Painting Renaissance Renaissance Allegory Medicine

Dominant colour

The soldier receives a garland of roses from his wife which will remain fresh as long as she is faithful, from a Tuti-nama (Tales of a Parrot): Fourth Night is a 1560 unspecified by Unknown, a Mughal Painting work, depicting Medicine, 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 soldier on horseback taking a rose garland from his wife. The flowers in the story stay fresh only as long as she stays faithful. It’s a quiet test—nature itself keeps score. The painting comes from a book of parrot tales told in Akbar’s court, where Persian, Indian, and Central Asian stories mixed. If you like this, look up Mughal India, court of Akbar (reigned 1556–1605).

The story of this work

Overview

Upon his departure, a warrior’s wife gives him roses that stay fresh as long as she remains faithful in his absence. This story reveals a connection between virtue and nature: the flowers remain fresh because of her loyalty. The stories in the Tuti-nama reveal the interconnectedness of Indian, Persian, and Central Asian populations. The Persian retellings of Sanskrit tales found in this manuscript were completed in 1330 by the learned Central Asian Sufi author Ziya’ al-din Nakshabi working in Delhi, the capital of India. Indian and Persian artists worked together to illustrate this copy for…