Page from Tales of a Parrot (Tuti-nama): text page

The calligraphic script is rendered in a flowing black ink, each line carefully aligned to create a uniform appearance. Thin red and blue borders frame the text, adding a subtle decorative element. Small ink specks and smudges punctuate the surface, likely the result of the hand‑writing process rather than later damage.

Commissioned for Prince Salik (Salim), the page reflects the patronage practices of the period, where illuminated manuscripts were created for elite audiences. The folio now resides in the collection of the Cleveland Museum of Art, which holds additional pages from the same manuscript, illustrating the work’s survival and scholarly interest.

*Tales of a Parrot* belongs to a tradition of Persian and South Asian moral literature that blended storytelling with visual embellishment. Such manuscripts were often produced in courtly workshops, employing skilled scribes and painters to produce texts that were both instructive and aesthetically refined.

The surviving pages, including this one, provide insight into the material culture of manuscript production for princely patrons. Their preservation in a major museum allows researchers to study the interplay of text, decoration, and patronage in pre‑modern literary art.