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The Parrot Addresses Khujasta at the Beginning of the Twenty-sixth Night, from a Tuti-nama (Tales of a Parrot)
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About this work
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. 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.
Cleveland Museum of Art’s own descriptionCredit lineThe Parrot Addresses Khujasta at the Beginning of the Twenty-sixth Night, from a Tuti-nama (Tales of a Parrot), 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: 11.4 x 10.3 cm (4 1/2 x 4 1/16 in.). The Cleveland Museum of Art, Gift of Mrs. A. Dean Perry, 1962.279.179.b
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