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Your galleryThe parrot brings a fruit from the Tree of Life to the king of Syria, from a Tuti-nama (Tales of a Parrot): Ninth Night
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Find the small orange fruit hanging from the green parrot’s beak as it perches on the king’s hand, then the attendant raising a white whisk behind the throne.
On the ninth night Tuti tells of another parrot, who repays a king of Syria for years of kindness with a fruit from the Tree of Life, fetched from the netherworld. Offered eternal life, the king hesitates to eat it. The page is inscribed with the name of Lalu, a painter known almost only from this manuscript; the Cleveland Museum of Art notes just one other work attributed to him.
gum tempera, ink, and gold on paper · Painting only: 7.6 x 10.2 cm · Cleveland Museum of Art
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Details and source
- Museum title
- The parrot brings a fruit from the Tree of Life to the king of Syria, from a Tuti-nama (Tales of a Parrot): Ninth Night
- Artist
- Lalu (Indian, active mid-1500s)
- Date
- c. 1560
- Medium
- gum tempera, ink, and gold on paper
- Dimensions
- Painting only: 7.6 x 10.2 cm (3 x 4 in.); Overall: 20 x 14.4 cm (7 7/8 x 5 11/16 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.