The parrot mother cautions her young on the danger of playing with foxes, from a Tuti-nama (Tales of a Parrot): Fifth Night

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Find the mother parrot at her nest high in the tree, then the fox cubs at play below and the vixen at the left keeping watch while one cub suckles.

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The Tuti-nama, or Tales of a Parrot, is a Persian book of the early 1300s: over 52 nights the parrot Tuti tells his master’s wife Khujasta tales that keep her at home until dawn, away from her lover. The Cleveland Museum of Art’s copy was painted for the emperor Akbar about 1560, and this page is by Dasavanta. On the fifth night Tuti begins with a mother parrot whose young play with the fox cubs at the foot of their tree.

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gum tempera, ink, and gold on paper · Overall: 20.3 x 14 cm · Cleveland Museum of Art

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Museum title: The parrot mother cautions her young on the danger of playing with foxes, from a Tuti-nama (Tales of a Parrot): Fifth Night
Artist: Dasavanta (Indian, d. 1584)
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 x 10.5 cm (3 15/16 x 4 1/8 in.)
Credit line: Gift of Mrs. A. Dean Perry
Image license: CC0 1.0 · Public domain
Museum record: Cleveland Museum of Art

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Galler’s rooms and hanging scale are imagined. The image is the museum’s original digital reproduction.

The parrot mother cautions her young on the danger of playing with foxes, from a Tuti-nama (Tales of a Parrot): Fifth Night

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