Cleveland Museum of Art
Seven men disputing possession of a woman bring her before the Tree of Justice into which she is absorbed, from a Tuti-nama (Tales of a Parrot): Sixth 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
Talking trees that predict the future or administer justice recur in medieval Indo-Iranian literature. Here, the blossoming Tree of Justice settled a dispute. Seven different men wanted to marry a woman who had been carved as a wooden statue by the carpenter (lower right in red) and brought to life by the holy man (lower left in green). A sliver of the woman’s body is seen merging with the trunk. The Tree of Justice decided to absorb her, and as she disappeared the tree proclaimed: “Everything must revert to its own origin.” A few tools, such as a hammer and an axe, designate the men’s professions.
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