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The deceitful wife ejects the procuress after blackening her face, from a Tuti-nama (Tales of a Parrot): Eighth Night
From the collection of Cleveland Museum of Art. Free to download, adapt and use — no permission needed.
About this work
The lover of the unfaithful wife sent a female messenger to arrange for their rendezvous. In a false display of horror, the wily adulteress blackened the face of the messenger as though to disgrace her and threw her out of the house, ordering her to be dumped by the side of a canal. That act, however, was a coded message to her lover to meet at the dark of night at that same location. The Indian artist Shravana added the pink brick wall to lend a sense of depth and dimensionality to the scene.
Cleveland Museum of Art’s own descriptionCredit lineThe deceitful wife ejects the procuress after blackening her face, from a Tuti-nama (Tales of a Parrot): Eighth Night, c. 1560. Shravana (Indian, active 1550s–c.1600). Gum tempera, ink, and gold on paper; overall: 20.3 x 14 cm (8 x 5 1/2 in.); painting only: 10.5 x 10 cm (4 1/8 x 3 15/16 in.). The Cleveland Museum of Art, Gift of Mrs. A. Dean Perry, 1962.279.67.b
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