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Collections

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Marriage of Ubayd (?) (recto), Merchant and His Partner Conversing (verso), Folio from the Beatty Tutinama (Tales of a Parrot)circa 1580

Not on view
Mughal manuscript painting with Persian calligraphy, showing a group of robed figures seated on a floral carpet in a pavilion, rendered in opaque watercolor with gold borders
Mughal manuscript page with opaque watercolor illustration; two turbaned men seated cross-legged on a patterned terrace in conversation, one in orange and one in green, while a third figure in yellow stands in a doorway at right holding a vessel; pavilion and dark tree in background; blocks of Persian script in nasta'liq above and below the central image, with red-ruled border on tan paper
Artist or Maker
Unknown
Title
Marriage of Ubayd (?) (recto), Merchant and His Partner Conversing (verso), Folio from the Beatty Tutinama (Tales of a Parrot)
Place Made
India, Mughal Empire
Date Made
circa 1580
Medium
Opaque watercolor, gold, and ink on paper
Dimensions
Sheet: 10 x 6 1/2 in. (25.40 x 15.24 cm); Image (recto): 7 1/4 x 4 7/8 in. (18.42 x 12.38 cm); Image (verso): 5 7/8 x 4 1/2 in. (14.92 x 11.43 cm)
Credit Line
From the Nasli and Alice Heeramaneck Collection, Museum Associates Purchase
Accession Number
M.81.8.6
Classification
Drawings
Collecting Area
South and Southeast Asian Art
Curatorial Notes

The Tutinama (Tales of a Parrot) was composed by Ziya ad-Din Nakhshabi in 1329/30. It is a shorter rendition of an earlier Persian translation of a Sanskrit text, the Sukasaptati (Seventy Tales of a Parrot). The fifty-two moralistic stories are told by a parent to music lady and prevent her from seeking romance elsewhere while her husband is away. This double-sided folio is from a Tutinama manuscript primarily held in the Chester Beatty Library, Dublin. The story recounted here on the forty-second night involves a merchant’s son named Ubayd who loved his wife to excess and neglected his filial and professional duties. The merchant complained to his partner, who gave him a parrot and a myna bird. That night the birds narrated two different tales to Ubayd, as a result of which he realized his error and returned to his parents and business.

Recto: This illustration is presumably the marriage of Ubayd. The bride and groom are represented wearing veils over their faces and sitting on their haunches. Besides them is an older man who is listening to the exhortations of two men on his right. Two maidservants and a male servant sit behind the couple. On the flowered carpet in front of them are various golden vessels filled with food and drink for the festivities.

Verso: This illustration likely portrays the merchant complaining to his partner about his son’s infatuation with his wife. A servant is bringing them a flask of wine.

Selected Bibliography
  • Pal, Pratapaditya. Indian Painting, vol.1. Los Angeles: Los Angeles County Museum of Art, 1993.
  • Rosenfield, John. The Arts of India and Nepal: The Nasli and Alice Heeramaneck Collection. Boston: Museum of Fine Arts, Boston, 1966.