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The two couples reach a foreign city where they make their home, from a Tuti-nama (Tales of a Parrot): Thirty-third Night

Unknown

1560

unspecified

From the collection of Cleveland Museum of Art

Mughal Painting Renaissance Renaissance

Dominant colour

The two couples reach a foreign city where they make their home, from a Tuti-nama (Tales of a Parrot): Thirty-third Night 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 two couples crossing a bridge into a walled city, their clothes bright against the patterned stone. Above them, three men watch from the ramparts. This painting comes from a *Tuti-nama*, a book of parrot tales told to a queen in Mughal India. The stories were meant to entertain, but also to teach lessons—here, love winning over obstacles. The city’s walls are covered in tiny flowers and vines, almost like fabric. To see more of these intricate miniatures, look up Mughal India, court of Akbar (reigned 1556–1605).

The story of this work

Overview

Two pairs of lovers cross the bridge that leads to the gates of a new city. They have fled here together to live out the rest of their lives peacefully away from the machinations that would have otherwise kept them apart. Above the intricately patterned city walls, three men witness the group’s arrival.