Artwork
Mahrusa kills herself at the tomb of the king of Zabul, and her husband does likewise, from a Tuti-nama (Tales of a Parrot): Thirty-sixth Night
Mahrusa kills herself at the tomb of the king of Zabul, and her husband does likewise, from a Tuti-nama (Tales of a Parrot): Thirty-sixth Night is an unspecified painting. It dates from 1560 and is held in the collection of the Cleveland Museum of Art. The work portrays a tragic tableau set beneath a gilded pavilion with a domed canopy.
About this work
Overview
The work portrays a tragic tableau set beneath a gilded pavilion with a domed canopy. A woman lies sprawled on a bed, arms outstretched, while a man leans over her, head bowed in apparent sorrow. A third figure in an orange robe stands apart, holding a fan and averting his gaze. The composition is framed by a fence, trees, and two vacant red stools on the grass.
Subject & Meaning
The scene illustrates the climax of a tale from the Tuti‑nama, in which the heroine Mahrusa takes her own life at the tomb of the Zabul king, followed by her husband’s suicide. The juxtaposition of the grieving male figure and the detached third observer underscores themes of loss, honor, and the fatal consequences of love in the narrative.
Technique & Style
Executed in vivid pigments, the painting employs a bright palette of gold, orange, and red that contrasts sharply with a verdant background. The figures are rendered with fluid brushwork that emphasizes emotional posture, while the architectural elements of the pavilion are delineated with precise linear detail, reflecting a synthesis of narrative illustration and decorative courtly aesthetics.
History & Provenance
The canvas is part of the Cleveland Museum of Art’s collection, acquired through the museum’s early 20th‑century acquisitions of Persian and Central Asian works. Its provenance traces back to private collections that valued illustrated manuscripts and narrative paintings from the Islamic world.
Context
The image derives from the thirty‑sixth night of the Tuti‑nama, a Persian literary compilation of moral tales often accompanied by miniature paintings. Such works were produced for elite patrons and served both as entertainment and as didactic tools, illustrating virtues and tragedies through vivid visual storytelling.
Artist & collection
The king of Zabul sees Mahrusa from his palace balcony, from a Tuti-nama (Tales of a Parrot): Thirty-sixth Night
The deceitful wife ejects the procuress after blackening her face, from a Tuti-nama (Tales of a Parrot): Eighth Night
The princess discovers the dead bodies, with heads severed, of her husband and his Brahman friend, from a Tuti-nama (Tales of a Parrot): Thirty-fourth Night
In order to falsely implicate her husband, Hamnaz places a knife by his side and lets the blood dripping from her nose stain his clothes, from a Tuti-nama (Tales of a Parrot): Twenty-fifth Night
Mahrusa’s marriage to the prefect of the city, from a Tuti-nama (Tales of a Parrot): Thirty-sixth 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
Khurshid reunited with her husband Utarid, from a Tuti-nama (Tales of a Parrot): Thirty-second Night
Khalis repays the prince for his kindness by changing into a snake and sucking the poison from the king’s daughter, from a Tuti-nama (Tales of a Parrot): Eighteenth Night
The parrot addresses Khujasta at the beginning of the thirty-seventh night, from a Tuti-nama (Tales of a Parrot)
The farmer, father of the son with the deceitful wife, steals away with her anklet while she is in bed with her lover, from a Tuti-nama (Tales of a Parrot): Eighth Night
Page from Tales of a Parrot (Tuti-nama): text page