The parrot addresses Khujasta at the beginning of the fifty-first night, from a Tuti-nama (Tales of a Parrot): Fifty-first Night, c. 1560. Mughal India, court of Akbar (reigned 1556–1605). Gum tempera, ink, and gold on paper; overall: x 14 cm (8 x 5 1/2 in.); painting only: x cm (3 3/8 x 3 7/8 in.). As the sun sets on the fifty-first of fifty-two nights, Khujasta prepares to leave to meet her lover. She is stopped by Tuti, the shrewd, talking parrot, who tells her a story about the cruel King Bahram and the misfortune that befell his vizier’s daughter.

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Photo credit: © CMA/BOT / Alamy / Afripics
License: Licensed
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