Artwork
Three suitors fight amongst themselves for the hand of the devotee’s daughter, from a Tuti-nama (Tales of a Parrot): Twentieth Night
Three suitors fight amongst themselves for the hand of the devotee’s daughter, from a Tuti-nama (Tales of a Parrot): Twentieth Night is an unspecified painting. It dates from 1560 and is held in the collection of the Cleveland Museum of Art. The work depicts an interior tableau drawn from the twentieth night of the Persian *Tuti‑nama* (Tales of a Parrot).
About this work
Overview
A lively composition shows several figures in elaborate dress: two men recline on a couch, one grasping a mirror, while three others quarrel nearby.
The work depicts an interior tableau drawn from the twentieth night of the Persian *Tuti‑nama* (Tales of a Parrot). A lively composition shows several figures in elaborate dress: two men recline on a couch, one grasping a mirror, while three others quarrel nearby. A seated woman quietly plays a stringed instrument in a corner, and a window with a red frame admits daylight onto patterned blue walls.
Subject & Meaning
The scene illustrates a narrative episode in which three suitors contend for the hand of a devotee’s daughter. The calm demeanor of the woman, contrasted with the aggressive postures of the three men—clad in green, red and white—highlights the tension between courtship and conflict, a common moral motif in the *Tuti‑nama* that warns against rivalry and promotes virtue.
Technique & Style
Executed in vivid pigments, the painting employs a flat decorative surface typical of Persian miniature tradition. Figures are rendered with fine, linear outlines and stylized gestures, while the interior architecture is suggested through patterned blue walls and a red‑framed window. The use of bright primary colors and intricate detailing of textiles emphasizes the opulent courtly setting.
History & Provenance
The piece belongs to a series illustrating the *Tuti‑nama*, a 14th‑century Persian romance. It entered the collection of the Cleveland Museum of Art through a mid‑20th‑century acquisition, reflecting the museum’s broader interest in Islamic decorative arts and narrative painting. Its provenance prior to museum ownership traces back to private collectors of Persian miniatures in Europe.
Artist & collection
The merchant’s daughter gives birth to a son as a result of eating out of the box. The clever child recognizes the false gems from true, from a Tuti-nama (Tales of a Parrot): Twenty-third Night
The three suitors again begin to quarrel among themselves for the hand of the devotee’s daughter, from a Tuti-nama (Tales of a Parrot): Twentieth Night
The third suitor strikes the devotee’s daughter and thus restores her to life, from a Tuti-nama (Tales of a Parrot): Twentieth Night
The king gives his daughter in marriage to the pious man’s son, from a Tuti-nama (Tales of a Parrot): Fifty-second Night
The king of Bahilistan offers his daughter to the King of Kings, from a Tuti-nama (Tales of a Parrot): Seventh Night
The four destitute friends go to a wise man who gives each one of them a magic shell to be placed on top of the turban, from a Tuti-nama (Tales of a Parrot): Forty-seventh Night
The young prince recounts his experiences to his father, the king, from a Tuti-nama (Tales of a Parrot): Eighth Night
The marriage of ‘Ubaid, son of a merchant of Tirmiz, from a Tuti-nama (Tales of a Parrot): Forty-second Night
The young man changes himself to look like Mansur, and thus inveigles himself into the bed of Mansur’s wife, but is put off by her, from a Tuti-nama (Tales of a Parrot): Seventeenth Night