The Parrot Addresses Khojasta from the Tutinama

This page formed folio 286 of a manuscript which originally consisted of 361 folios. The illustration is on the recto (according to the Persian system), with three lines of text in naskh script above and below; and 13 lines of text on the reverse.

Historical period(s)
Mughal dynasty, Reign of Akbar, ca. 1565-1570
Movement
Mughal Court
School
Mughal School
Medium
Opaque watercolor, ink and gold on paper
Dimensions
H x W (painting recto): 9.6 × 10.1 cm (3 3/4 × 4 in)
Geography
India
Credit Line
Purchase — Charles Lang Freer Endowment
Collection
Freer Gallery of Art Collection
Accession Number
F1991.8
On View Location
Currently not on view
Classification(s)
Album, Painting
Type

Album leaf with painting

Keywords
India, Mughal dynasty (1526 - 1858), parrot, Reign of Akbar (1556 - 1605)
Provenance

To 1959
The Estate of the Honorable Breckenridge Long, Laurel, Maryland, to 1959 [1]

From 1959
Unidentified buyer, purchased at auction, William D. Morley, Inc., Philadelphia, October 7, 1959, lot no. 2303 [2]

Edwin Binney, 3rd, Brookline, MA [3]

William K. Ehrenfeld (died 2005), San Francisco [4]

From 1991
Freer Gallery of Art, purchased at auction, Sotheby's, New York, October 28, 1991, lot no. 2 [5]

Notes:

[1] According to Curatorial Note 6, Milo C. Beach, November 1991, in the object record.

[2] See note 1.

[3] See Indian Miniature Painting from the Collections of Edwin Binney, 3rd: I. The Mughal and Deccani Schools (Portland Art Museum, 1973), no. 12a (according to Curatorial Note 6, Milo C. Beach, November 1991, in the object record).

[4] See Daniel J. Ehnbom, Indian Miniatures - The Ehrenfeld Collection (Hudson Hills Press, 1985) (according to Curatorial Note 6, Milo C. Beach, November 1991, in object record).

[5] See Curatorial Note 6, Milo C. Beach, November 1991, in object record.

Previous Owner(s) and Custodian(s)

Sotheby's (New York)
Hon. Breckenridge Long
Edwin Binney 3rd 1925-1986
Dr. William K. Ehrenfeld 1935-2005

Description

This page formed folio 286 of a manuscript which originally consisted of 361 folios. The illustration is on the recto (according to the Persian system), with three lines of text in naskh script above and below; and 13 lines of text on the reverse.

Label

Originally a fourteenth-century Persian tale, the Tutinama (Tales of a Parrot) consists of fifty-two stories that a parrot tells his mistress, Khojasta, to detain her from leaving home to meet with a lover during her husband's absence. The Persian text on this page identifies it as the forty-fifth story; the parrot tells Khojasta about a cunning snake, thereby advising his mistress to avoid deception. This page comes from an illustrated copy of the text attributed to the patronage of the Mughal emperor Akbar.

Published References
  • Portland Museum of Art. Indian Miniature Paintings from the Collection of Edwin Binney, 3rd. Portland. cat. nos. 12a-d.
  • D.J. Ehnbom. Indian Miniatures: The Ehrenfeld Collection. New York. cat. 5.
  • Pramod Chandra. The Cleveland Tuti-nama Manuscript and the Origins of Mughal Painting. Chicago. .
  • Milo Cleveland Beach. The Imperial Image: Paintings for the Mughal Court., 2nd ed. Washington and Ahmedabad, India, 2012. cat. 5, p. 52.
  • Anand Krishna. A Reassessment of the Tuti-Nama Illustrations in the Cleveland Museum of Art (and Related Problems on Early Mughal Painting and Painters). vol. 35 Washington and Zurich, 1973. pp. 241-68.
  • Tales of a Parrot: The Cleveland Museum of Art's Tuti-Nama. Cleveland. pp. 277-81.
  • John Seyller. Overpainting in the Cleveland Tutinama. vol. 52, 3/4 Washington and Zurich. pp. 283-318.
  • Sherman Lee, Pramod Chandra. A Newly Discovered Tuti-Nama and the Continuity of the Indian Tradition of Manuscript Painting. no. 105 London, December 1963. pp. 547-554.
Collection Area(s)
South Asian and Himalayan Art
Web Resources
Google Cultural Institute
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