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The mendicant’s wife deceives him with a soldier, from a Tuti-nama (Tales of a Parrot): Fourth Night

Creator Name

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Cultural Context

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Indian; Asian

Date

Creation: c. 1560

About the Work

Cleveland Museum of Art Object Description
According to this story, written in Persian, a skilled yogi in India reached such a high level of practice that he was able to perform acts of transformation. Anxious to prevent his wife from committing adultery, he transformed himself into an elephant and carried her hidden in a howdah on his back and stayed only in the deep forest, away from men. One day, when the elephant was out foraging for food, a lone soldier came upon the wife, and they made love. The moral of the story is that no matter how extreme the lengths to which one might go to prevent adultery, if someone is inclined to do so, it will happen.

Work details

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Title

The mendicant’s wife deceives him with a soldier, from a Tuti-nama (Tales of a Parrot): Fourth Night

Creator

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Worktype

Painting

Cultural Context

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

Material

gum tempera, ink, and gold on paper

Dimensions

Painting only: 9.1 x 10.6 cm (3 9/16 x 4 3/16 in.); Overall: 20 x 13.5 cm (7 7/8 x 5 5/16 in.);
height: 0.2metre;
width: 0.135metre

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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All Works in Curationist’s archives can be reproduced and used freely. How to attribute this Work:

The mendicant’s wife deceives him with a soldier, from a Tuti-nama (Tales of a Parrot): Fourth Night, c. 1560, Cleveland Museum of Art. CC0. According to this story, written in Persian, a skilled yogi in India reached such a high level of practice that he was able to perform acts of...

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