The parrot addresses Khujasta at the beginning of the thirty-first night, from a Tuti-nama (Tales of a Parrot)
Unknown Artist
c. 1560
Medium
gum tempera, ink, and gold on paper
Dimensions
20.3 × 14 cm · painting only: 6.2 × 10.2 cm
Classification
Painting
Department
Indian and Southeast Asian Art
Museum
Cleveland Museum of Art
Credit
Gift of Mrs. A. Dean Perry
Accession Number
1962.279.203.b
About this artwork
On the thirty-first of fifty-two nights, Tuti the talking parrot begins to tell Khujasta a moralizing story about a blue jackal who, through trickery, briefly became the emir of wild beasts. The original underdrawing in black and red is visible beneath the flaked paint on Khujasta’s face and upper body.