In order to falsely implicate her husband, Hamnaz places a knife by his side and lets the blood dripping from her nose stain his clothes, from a Tuti-nama (Tales of a Parrot): Twenty-fifth Night
Unknown Artist
c. 1560
Medium
gum tempera, ink, and gold on paper
Dimensions
20.3 × 14 cm · painting only: 9.9 × 10.1 cm
Classification
Painting
Department
Indian and Southeast Asian Art
Museum
Cleveland Museum of Art
Credit
Gift of Mrs. A. Dean Perry
Accession Number
1962.279.177.b
About this artwork
Hamnaz, whose nose was bitten off by her dying lover, leans over her sleeping husband. She intends to frame him for causing the injury so that her affair will not be revealed. When Hamnaz’s nose is found in the mouth of the dead lover, her husband is absolved.