Artwork
The Raja’s daughter and her lover stoned to death for adultery, from a Tuti-nama (Tales of a Parrot): Forty-Second Night
The Raja’s daughter and her lover stoned to death for adultery, from a Tuti-nama (Tales of a Parrot): Forty-Second Night is an unspecified painting. It dates from 1560 and is held in the collection of the Cleveland Museum of Art.
About this work
Overview
The work illustrates a violent episode from the forty‑second night of the Persian illustrated manuscript known as the Tuti‑nama, or "Tales of a Parrot." The scene captures the moment of execution by stoning, with a kneeling figure cradling a blood‑spattered head while surrounding onlookers react in various gestures.
Subject & Meaning
The narrative depicts the punishment of a royal daughter and her lover for committing adultery, a moral tale emphasizing the consequences of illicit love in the courtly context. The inclusion of Persian script around the image reinforces its function as a visual accompaniment to the story’s text.
Technique & Style
Executed in vivid pigments, the painting employs a bright palette of orange, red, green, and yellow to delineate figures and their garments. The composition is organized on a rocky foreground under a soft blue sky, with stylized clouds and a border of foliage, characteristic of miniature painting traditions that blend narrative clarity with decorative richness.
History & Provenance
The piece originates from a Persian illustrated manuscript dating to the early modern period, likely produced in a courtly workshop. It entered the collection of the Cleveland Museum of Art through acquisition in the twentieth century, where it is displayed among other works of the same era.
Context
As part of the Tuti‑nama, the painting contributes to a larger corpus of didactic literature that used vivid storytelling to convey ethical lessons. Its visual treatment of punishment reflects contemporary attitudes toward honor and law, offering modern viewers insight into the cultural values embedded in Persian courtly art.
Artist & collection
The forty wives and their secret paramours being punished by stoning to death, from a Tuti-nama (Tales of a Parrot): Twenty-third 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 Raja’s daughter, born with three breasts, accompanies her blind husband and his hunchback guide on a journey, from a Tuti-nama (Tales of a Parrot): Forty-second Night
The deceitful wife ejects the procuress after blackening her face, from a Tuti-nama (Tales of a Parrot): Eighth Night
The deceitful wife assaults her erring husband, from a Tuti-nama (Tales of a Parrot): Eighth 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 pious man’s son, now a king, reveals himself to his father; his nurse upbraids his unfaithful mother, from a Tuti-nama (Tales of a Parrot): Fifty-second Night