A woman with two children, having abandoned her home, goes into the forest where she encounters a leopard, from a Tuti-nama (Tales of a Parrot): Thirtieth Night

Cleveland Museum of Art

A woman with two children, having abandoned her home, goes into the forest where she encounters a leopard, from a Tuti-nama (Tales of a Parrot): Thirtieth 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

A woman described as ill-tempered and quarrelsome was beaten by her husband, so she fled with her children into the wilderness. A fearsome leopard approached them, hoping to carry the children away for a meal. Thinking quickly, the woman offered the leopard one of her children and half of her own body, stating that a lion has staked claim to the other half. Fearing rivalry with the lion, the leopard quickly fled. The gold sky and arid landscape in shades of pink and blue derive from painting styles of northwestern Iran, but the woman’s dress is the tied blouse and wrapped skirt of India. The woman is described as bad-tempered, quarrelsome, sharp-tongued, gossipy, and peevish.

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