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Your galleryThe monkey slain, his blood to be used as medicine for the ailing prince he has bitten, from a Tuti-nama (Tales of a Parrot): Fifth Night
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Compare the grim work at the left, where blood drips into a gold bowl, with the quiet bedchamber at the right, where the prince’s bitten hand lies hidden under the covers.
The chess-playing monkey’s bite has become infected, and the prince’s doctors say only the monkey’s blood, dried on the wound, can cure it. Reluctantly the prince lets the monkey be killed, and two men do the grim work at the left. The name in the right margin is Basavana’s. The Cleveland Museum of Art notes that this manuscript holds the first known paintings of this prolific master, who did much to shape Mughal painting in the decades that followed.
gum tempera, ink, and gold on paper · Overall: 20.3 x 14 cm · Cleveland Museum of Art
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Details and source
- Museum title
- The monkey slain, his blood to be used as medicine for the ailing prince he has bitten, from a Tuti-nama (Tales of a Parrot): Fifth Night
- Artist
- Basawan (Indian, active mid-1500s)
- Date
- c. 1560
- Medium
- gum tempera, ink, and gold on paper
- Dimensions
- Overall: 20.3 x 14 cm (8 x 5 1/2 in.); Painting only: 10.3 x 10.6 cm (4 1/16 x 4 3/16 in.)
- Credit line
- Gift of Mrs. A. Dean Perry
- Image license
- CC0 1.0 · Public domain
- Museum record
- Cleveland Museum of Art
Galler’s rooms and hanging scale are imagined. The image is the museum’s original digital reproduction.