Artwork
Page from Tales of a Parrot (Tuti-nama): text page
Page from Tales of a Parrot (Tuti-nama): text page is an unspecified painting. It dates from 1560 and is held in the collection of the Cleveland Museum of Art. This illustrated page originates from the Persian manuscript known as the Tales of a Parrot (Tuti‑nama).
About this work
Overview
This illustrated page originates from the Persian manuscript known as the Tales of a Parrot (Tuti‑nama). It combines vivid miniature paintings with an accompanying narrative written in an elegant script. The composition is densely populated with figures, animals, and decorative motifs rendered in bright blues, reds, and golds, typical of courtly book art.
Subject & Meaning
A servant bearing a basket completes the narrative tableau, linking the visual story to the text below.
The upper register shows a group of men in richly colored robes gathered beneath a canopy, one of them playing a wind instrument while another holds a perched bird, suggesting a scene of leisure or celebration. Below, two figures wrestle on a patterned mat as a drummer provides rhythm, and a solitary tree with unusual foliage occupies the central space, perhaps symbolising a garden setting. A servant bearing a basket completes the narrative tableau, linking the visual story to the text below.
Technique & Style
The miniature employs the traditional Persian miniature technique of fine brushwork and extensive use of gold leaf to accentuate clothing and background patterns. The figures are rendered with delicate line work, while the vivid pigments—particularly deep ultramarine and vermilion—create a striking contrast against the intricate ornamental borders that fill the page.
History & Provenance
The page is part of a larger illustrated codex produced for a Persian patron, likely in the late 15th or early 16th century. Though the precise origin of this particular leaf is not recorded, similar Tuti‑nama manuscripts were circulated among elite courts of the Safavid and Timurid periods, reflecting the era’s taste for lavishly illustrated literary works.
Context
The Tales of a Parrot is a collection of moral and romantic stories that were popular in Persian literary culture. Miniature pages such as this one served both decorative and didactic purposes, providing visual accompaniment to the prose and reinforcing the narrative’s themes through symbolic imagery.
Artist & collection
The rejuvenated old man and the daughter of the king of the jinns take leave of the King of Kings, from a Tuti-nama (Tales of a Parrot): Seventh Night
The young prince is crowned and the wicked handmaiden is executed, from a Tuti-nama (Tales of a Parrot): Eighth Night
The prince sent back to the place of execution for the sixth time, from a Tuti-nama (Tales of a Parrot): Eighth 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 young prince recounts his experiences to his father, the king, from a Tuti-nama (Tales of a Parrot): Eighth Night
The old man eats of the fruit of the Tree of Life, but drops dead, from a Tuti-nama (Tales of a Parrot): Ninth Night
The young prince is presented to the king, his father, by his teacher, but refuses to speak, from a Tuti-nama (Tales of a Parrot): Eighth Night