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The son of the king of Babylon sees the Brahman transformed into a woman bathing and falls in love with her, from a Tuti-nama (Tales of a Parrot): Thirty-fifth Night

Creator Name

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Cultural Context

Mughal India, court of Akbar (reigned 1556–1605)

Date

Creation: c. 1560

About the Work

Cleveland Museum of Art Object Description
One day the king’s son caught sight of a woman washing her hair and fell in love with her. She was actually a Brahmin, a Hindu priest, who had a magic pearl of transformation that allowed him to live in the women’s quarters with his lover, the princess. The princess gestures in alarm, as she realizes her brother has fallen for her lover. Another popular subject that we see in the Tuti-Nama and in later painting is women bathing in a pool. Women bathing also appear in Krishna sporting with the gopis, from the early Bhagavata Purana, CMA 1971.171. Note how the Mughal handling of water with gentle swirls differs from the concentric circles in Krishna sporting with the gopis.

Work details

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Title

The son of the king of Babylon sees the Brahman transformed into a woman bathing and falls in love with her, from a Tuti-nama (Tales of a Parrot): Thirty-fifth Night

Creator

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Worktype

Painting

Cultural Context

Mughal India, court of Akbar (reigned 1556–1605)

Material

gum tempera, ink, and gold on paper

Dimensions

Overall: 20.3 x 14 cm (8 x 5 1/2 in.); Painting only: 14.5 x 10.2 cm (5 11/16 x 4 in.);
height: 0.203metre;
width: 0.14metre

Technique

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Language

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Date

Creation: c. 1560

Provenance

Estate of Breckinridge Long [1881–1958], Bowie, MD, ?–1959; (Harry Burke Antiques, Philadelphia, PA), 1959–1962?; (Bernard Brown Agency, Milwaukee, WI, sold to the Cleveland Museum of Art. Purchased with funds from Mrs. A. Dean [Helen Wade Greene] Perry), 1959?–1962; The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH, 1962–; Gift of Mrs. A. Dean Perry

Style Period

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Rights

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CC0
CC0

Inscription

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Location

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Subjects

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Topic

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The son of the king of Babylon sees the Brahman transformed into a woman bathing and falls in love with her, from a Tuti-nama (Tales of a Parrot): Thirty-fifth Night, c. 1560, Cleveland Museum of Art. CC0.

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