This edition of a Persian work executed in the Mogul style, the Book of Parrots describes, in lively miniatures, how a wise parrot strives to prevent the young wife of a far-travelled merchant from committing adultery by telling her the most entertaining stories. The Tuti Nama was extremely popular in the Mogul kingdom, as its contents provided the opportunity of using risqué illustrations. The dangers of such a wayward life are clearly illustrated, either in unambiguous terms or in a less obvious and codified form of highly interesting parables.
218 Miniatures from a Fascinating, Distant World
The extremely colorful miniatures of the book clearly show the popularity of secular literature as a form of entertainment at the court of the cosmopolitan Mogul Empire in India.
As stunning as the work itself is its turbulent history: in 1963, the leaves emerged from the darkness of history and were offered to the Cleveland Museum of Art, where they are still kept. The manuscript contains 218 miniatures.
We have 1 facsimile edition of the manuscript "Tales of a Parrot": Ṭūṭī-nāma facsimile edition, published by Akademische Druck- u. Verlagsanstalt (ADEVA), 1976
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