Artwork
The wolf advises the lion to consult the cat, from a Tuti-nama (Tales of a Parrot): Fifteenth Night
The wolf advises the lion to consult the cat, from a Tuti-nama (Tales of a Parrot): Fifteenth Night is an unspecified painting. It dates from 1560 and is held in the collection of the Cleveland Museum of Art. The miniature depicts a rocky hillside where three animals gather: a striped tiger, a dark‑coloured wolf, and a small black cat.
About this work
History & Provenance
The work is currently held in the collection of the Cleveland Museum of Art, where it is cataloged under the accession number 1962.
The painting, titled The wolf advises the lion to consult the cat, from a Tuti-nama (Tales of a Parrot): Fifteenth Night, was created in 1560 within the Mughal Empire. It is attributed to an unknown artist and is classified as a painting. The work is currently held in the collection of the Cleveland Museum of Art, where it is cataloged under the accession number 1962.279.114.a. The specific date of inception is recorded as January 1, 1560.
The painting is held by the Cleveland Museum of Art in Cleveland, United States. The work's accession number is 1962.279.114.a. Produced in the Mughal Empire around 1560, it is part of the museum's collection of Mughal manuscripts.
The source material does not provide a specific exhibition history for this particular folio.
Context
The painting, attributed to an unknown artist and dated to 1560, belongs to the Mughal Empire's artistic tradition and is housed in the Cleveland Museum of Art. It illustrates a narrative from the Tuti-nama where a wolf advises a lion to consult a cat, reflecting the didactic themes characteristic of Mughal manuscript painting. The work's composition and stylistic elements situate it within the broader context of 16th-century Persianate artistic production, where animal fables served as vehicles for moral instruction.
Its presence in a Western collection has prompted scholarly attention to cross-cultural exchanges in early modern visual culture, though detailed reception history remains understudied.
Overview
The miniature depicts a rocky hillside where three animals gather: a striped tiger, a dark‑coloured wolf, and a small black cat. The tiger stands alert, the wolf appears to address it, and the cat sits nearby. Above the scene a blue sky arches over a solitary green tree, while the ground is dotted with pink and purple blossoms. A line of Arabic‑style script runs across the top of the panel.
Subject & Meaning
The image illustrates a moment from the fifteenth‑night episode of the Tuti‑nama (Tales of a Parrot), a collection of moral animal stories. In this vignette the wolf offers counsel to the tiger, embodying the genre’s tradition of using animal dialogue to convey ethical advice.
Technique & Style
Executed in miniature painting technique, the work combines fine ink outlines with delicate washes of colour. The figures are rendered with precise brushwork that emphasizes the texture of the tiger’s stripes and the wolf’s fur, while the background employs flat washes of blue, green, pink and purple typical of Persian‑influenced manuscript illumination.
Artist & collection
- The wolf advises the lion to consult the cat, from a Tuti-nama (Tales of a Parrot): Fifteenth Night
The cat attacks the mice which disturb the lion, from a Tuti-nama (Tales of a Parrot): Fifteenth Night
The lion disturbed by mice who eat the food trapped in his aging teeth, from a Tuti-nama (Tales of a Parrot): Fifteenth Night
The Brahman comes upon a lion who has a deer and a gazelle as his viziers, from a Tuti-nama (Tales of a Parrot): Twenty-first Night
The wolf and the jackal, serving as viziers, instigate the lion who pursues the Brahman up a tree, from a Tuti-nama (Tales of a Parrot): Twenty-first Night
The monkey advises the suspicious lion to cast off fear and take possession of his territory, from a Tuti-nama (Tales of a Parrot): Twenty-ninth Night
The monkey advises the suspicious lion to cast off fear and take possession of his territory, from a Tuti-nama (Tales of a Parrot): Twenty-ninth Night
The monkey, serving as the lion’s chamberlain, converses with the lynx and its mate who have arrived with their cubs to settle in the lion’s domain, from a Tuti-nama (Tales of a Parrot): Twenty-ninth Night
The cat attacks the mice which disturb the lion, from a Tuti-nama (Tales of a Parrot): Fifteenth Night
The wolf and the jackal, serving as viziers, instigate the lion who pursues the Brahman up a tree, from a Tuti-nama (Tales of a Parrot): Twenty-first Night
The Brahman comes upon a lion who has a deer and a gazelle as his viziers, from a Tuti-nama (Tales of a Parrot): Twenty-first Night
The parrot addresses Khujasta at the beginning of the thirty-third night, from a Tuti-nama (Tales of a Parrot)
The lion disturbed by mice who eat the food trapped in his aging teeth, from a Tuti-nama (Tales of a Parrot): Fifteenth Night
The daughter-in-law of the king of Banaras sees the jackal deprived of its food by a bird, as it unsuccessfully attempts to catch a fish, from a Tuti-nama (Tales of a Parrot): Sixteenth Night
The daughter-in-law of the king of Banaras sees the jackal deprived of its food by a bird, as it unsuccessfully attempts to catch a fish, from a Tuti-nama (Tales of a Parrot): Sixteenth Night
Page from Tales of a Parrot (Tuti-nama): text page