CC0 · no rights reserved
The invention of musical instruments from the intestines of a monkey, from a Tuti-nama (Tales of a Parrot): Fourteenth Night
From the collection of Cleveland Museum of Art. Free to download, adapt and use — no permission needed.
About this work
A monkey has been disemboweled while jumping from tree to tree. Once the intestine dried, a wise man attached it to a stick and a gourd, creating the first instrument. Instruments developed from this, called the rebab and the vina, are held by the musicians who sit beneath the trees.
Cleveland Museum of Art’s own descriptionCredit lineThe invention of musical instruments from the intestines of a monkey, from a Tuti-nama (Tales of a Parrot): Fourteenth Night, c. 1560. Mughal India, court of Akbar (reigned 1556–1605). Gum tempera, ink, and gold on paper; overall: 20.3 x 14 cm (8 x 5 1/2 in.); painting only: 9.7 x 10.2 cm (3 13/16 x 4 in.). The Cleveland Museum of Art, Gift of Mrs. A. Dean Perry, 1962.279.108.b
Similar works
The king plucks fruit from the Tree of Life with his own hands and feeds it to a lady, from a Tuti-nama (Tales of a Parrot): Ninth Night
The daughter of the merchant of Mazanderan asks the gardener for the rose, from a Tuti-nama (Tales of a Parrot): Twelfth Night
The young prince is presented to the king, his father, by his teacher, but refuses to speak, from a Tuti-nama (Tales of a Parrot): Eighth Night
The magic parrot of the merchant talks to the vizier’s son, from a Tuti-nama (Tales of a Parrot): Tenth Night
The Brahman gives an account of his falling in love with the king of Babylon’s daughter to his friend, the magician, from a Tuti-nama (Tales of a Parrot): Thirty-fifth Night
The merchant’s daughter meets the gardener, from a Tuti-nama (Tales of a Parrot): Twelfth Night