Cleveland Museum of Art

The young prince is presented to the king, his father, by his teacher, but refuses to speak, from a Tuti-nama (Tales of a Parrot): Eighth 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

As the prince grew up, he was failing in his studies. After 12 years of frustration, the king found a teacher who used pictures and creative oral techniques to help him learn. When the day came for his examinations that would prove him fit to rule, both the prince and the teacher were confident that he was well prepared. Before going in for the examinations, the teacher read his horoscope and discovered that disaster would befall him that very week, unless he kept completely silent until the seven-day period of danger had passed. The painting on this page shows the prince in blue next to his teacher in yellow, kneeling before the king. The four points of cloth at the bottom of the men’s tunics are for tying up when mounted on horseback.

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