Artwork
The eldest brother explains the reason for his youthful appearance, from a Tuti-nama (Tales of a Parrot): Forty-ninth Night
The eldest brother explains the reason for his youthful appearance, from a Tuti-nama (Tales of a Parrot): Forty-ninth 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 intimate interior scene populated by three figures.
About this work
Overview
The walls are tiled with patterned designs, and the ceiling is rendered in green with red trim, creating a compact, storybook‑like atmosphere.
The work depicts an intimate interior scene populated by three figures. A central male figure in an orange robe sits on a red cushion, grasping a small object, while a second man in green leans forward, gesturing toward an item on a low table. To the left, a woman dressed in red and gold holds a fan. The walls are tiled with patterned designs, and the ceiling is rendered in green with red trim, creating a compact, storybook‑like atmosphere.
Subject & Meaning
The composition illustrates a moment from the forty‑ninth night of a Tuti‑nama, a Persian collection of moral tales narrated by a parrot. The central figure is the eldest brother, explaining why he appears youthful, a motif that underscores themes of wisdom, deception, and familial dynamics common to the narrative tradition.
Technique & Style
Executed in vivid pigments, the painting emphasizes decorative detail through fine gold accents on the woman’s garment and the male figure’s turban. The use of bright, contrasting colors and the stylized rendering of interior architecture reflect a manuscript illustration aesthetic, translating textual storytelling into a visual tableau.
Context
The piece belongs to a broader corpus of Persian illustrated books that flourished between the 14th and 16th centuries, when literary works were frequently embellished with miniature paintings. Such images served both didactic and decorative purposes, enhancing the reader’s engagement with the moral lessons of the Tuti‑nama.
Artist & collection
The parrot laughs on hearing the Raja of Ujjain’s wife admire her beauty in a mirror, from a Tuti-nama (Tales of a Parrot: Forty-sixth Night
The merchant has the hateful skull ground and put into a box, from a Tuti-nama (Tales of a Parrot): Twenty-third 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 Brahman’s wife who killed a peacock and ate its gallbladder on the physician’s advice, from a Tuti-nama (Tales of a Parrot): Nineteenth Night
The marriage of ‘Ubaid, son of a merchant of Tirmiz, from a Tuti-nama (Tales of a Parrot): Forty-second Night
The young prince recounts his experiences to his father, the king, from a Tuti-nama (Tales of a Parrot): Eighth Night
The parrot addresses Khujasta at the beginning of the thirty-seventh night, from a Tuti-nama (Tales of a Parrot)
The parrot addresses Khujasta at the beginning of the thirty-eighth night, from a Tuti-nama (Tales of a Parrot)
The Parrot Addresses Khujasta at the Beginning of the Twenty-fifth Night, from a Tuti-nama (Tales of a Parrot)