The four destitute friends go to a wise man who gives each one of them a magic shell to be placed on top of the turban, from a Tuti-nama (Tales of a Parrot): Forty-seventh Night
Unknown Artist
c. 1560
Medium
gum tempera, ink, and gold on paper
Dimensions
20.3 × 14 cm
Classification
Painting
Department
Indian and Southeast Asian Art
Museum
Cleveland Museum of Art
Credit
Gift of Mrs. A. Dean Perry
Accession Number
1962.279.301.b
About this artwork
The seated wise man drops a small, red shell into the final friend’s outstretched hands. He then instructs each of them to go out into the world and walk until the shell falls to the ground. If the man digs where the shell lands, he will find something to sustain him.