Object Image

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

Unknown Artist

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.

Credit: Gift of Mrs. A. Dean Perry

c. 1560

Gum tempera, ink, and gold on paper

11.4 x 10.3 cm

1962.279.179.b

Image and text: The Cleveland Museum of Art, 2023

Where you'll find this

The Cleveland Museum of Art
The Cleveland Museum of Art

Permanent collection