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The Parrot Addresses Khujasta at the Beginning of the Twenty-sixth Night, from a Tuti-nama (Tales of a Parrot)

c. 1560

The Cleveland Museum of Art

The Cleveland Museum of Art
Cleveland, United States

<em>When the sun, like a saffron-hued frog, plunged into the pond in the west and the moon, like a fish, came out of its snare in the east, Khujasta adorned with many kinds of jewels and bedecked with a variety of gold and silver ornaments went to Tuti to ask permission to leave.</em>
The parrot’s cage seems to hover in midair in the porch of a domed pavilion. The flowering treeentwining the cypress alludes to Khujasta’s desire to embrace her lover. As waterfowl course through the air, the parrot begins his story about the frog king Shapur.

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  • Title: The Parrot Addresses Khujasta at the Beginning of the Twenty-sixth Night, from a Tuti-nama (Tales of a Parrot)
  • Date Created: c. 1560
  • Physical Dimensions: Overall: 20.3 x 14 cm (8 x 5 1/2 in.); Painting only: 11.4 x 10.3 cm (4 1/2 x 4 1/16 in.)
  • Provenance: Estate of Breckenridge Long, Bowie, MD, 1959; Harry Burke Antiques, Philadelphia, PA; Bernard Brown, Milwaukee, WI;
  • Type: Painting
  • Rights: CC0
  • External Link: https://clevelandart.org/art/1962.279.179.b
  • Medium: gum tempera, ink, and gold on paper
  • Fun Fact: The flowering tree entwining the cypress alludes to Khujasta’s desire to embrace her lover.
  • Department: Indian and Southeast Asian Art
  • Culture: Mughal India, court of Akbar (reigned 1556–1605)
  • Credit Line: Gift of Mrs. A. Dean Perry
  • Collection: Indian Art
  • Accession Number: 1962.279.179.b
The Cleveland Museum of Art

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