Cleveland Museum of Art
The Brahman’s wife who killed a peacock and ate its gallbladder on the physician’s advice, from a Tuti-nama (Tales of a Parrot): Nineteenth Night
- Date
- c. 1560
- Medium
- gum tempera, ink, and gold on paper
- Culture
- Mughal India, court of Akbar (reigned 1556–1605)
- Department
- Indian and Southeast Asian Art
- Institution
- Cleveland Museum of Art
The Brahman’s wife stands over the body of the Raja’s dead peacock, which she killed in hopes of finding a cure for her infertility. The woman’s crime was nearly discovered, but she ultimately saved herself with a cunning lie. The physician, wearing orange and green, sits in the chamber on the left. The gold square on the long black cord around the woman’s neck is an amulet.
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