The cat attacks the mice which disturb the lion, from a Tuti-nama (Tales of a Parrot): Fifteenth Night

Cleveland Museum of Art

The cat attacks the mice which disturb the lion, from a Tuti-nama (Tales of a Parrot): Fifteenth Night

Date
c. 1560
Medium
gum tempera, ink, and gold on paper
Culture
India, Mughal court, 16th century
Department
Indian and Southeast Asian Art
Institution
Cleveland Museum of Art
Object ID
137395

From the Cleveland Museum of Art record

One day came when the cat brought one of his sons to substitute for him as guardian against the mice, so that he could have some time away to visit his other children. That night the young cat killed all of the mice, as shown in this painting, after which the lion had no need for a cat anymore and relieved him of his position as Magistrate of the Court. The text reads: "The cat said to his son, ‘The spark of this calamity was set by you, and the robe of this disaster was tailored by you. If you had not annihilated the mice and had not entirely relieved the lion’s heart of his grief, he would not have dismissed me.’ The young cat was filled with remorse for having killed the mice." By the time the parrot finished telling the story, daybreak came and it was too late for Khujasta to rendezvous with her lover under the cover of darkness. The same anonymous artist completed all three pages in the story of the lion and the mice.

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Provenance & credit

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Credit line
Gift of Mrs. A. Dean Perry
Provenance
?–1959: Estate of Breckinridge Long [1881–1958], Bowie, MD | 1959–1962?: (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) | 1962–: The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH

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