How a parrot keeps a young lady from committing adultery: moralizing texts and risqué miniatures from the Mughal period
Tuti-Nama
India — 1560–1568

Tuti-Nama
India — 1560–1568
A wise parrot distracts the young wife of a merchant from committing adultery with entertaining stories
The contents provided the opportunity of using risqué illustrations in spite of the moralizing text
Such secular works were extremely popular at the court of the cosmopolitan Mughal Empire in India

Tuti-Nama
Fourth Night
This woman’s husband was a soldier who was away on duty for months at a time. His master, the king, was intrigued at his wife’s faithfulness and decided to test her by sending his two handsome cooks to visit her and attempt to lure her into adultery. She tricked them into coming to her home and getting on a bed made of weak strings, positioned over a pit into which they fell and were imprisoned until the king and her husband came to see what happened.
Tuti-Nama
- Tales of a Parrot
Short Description
The Tuti Nama is a Mogul-style work from Persia, also known as The Book of Parrots. With the aid of 218 beautiful miniatures, it relates 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. Although a popular piece of secular literature, its entertaining stories have a moralizing intent nonetheless. The work appeared in 1963 and was sold at auction to the Cleveland Museum of Art.
Tuti-Nama
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. Its turbulent history is as stunning as the work itself: in 1963, the leaves emerged from the darkness of history and were offered to the Cleveland Museum of Art where they are still kept.
Codicology
- Alternative Titles
- Tales of a Parrot
- Size / Format
- 684 pages / 20.4 x 14.0 cm
- Origin
- India
- Date
- 1560–1568
- Epochs
- Style
- Genre
- Illustrations
- 218 miniatures
- Artist / School
- Moghul School

Tuti-Nama
Thirty-Fourth Night
Three young men present themselves to a merchant from Kabul, competing as suitors for the hand of his daughter, Zuhra, who is seated on the roof above. Each suitor wears a feathered cap, the man on the left in purple has a full beard, the man in white looking over his shoulder a moustache, and the clean-shaven man on the right holds a bow and arrow.
The attention to detail in the miniature is remarkable, e.g. each figure is depicted with a different skin tone to reflect the various peoples of the Mughal Empire. Intricate geometric and floral patterns cover nearly every surface. Seated within a walled garden, the figures are depicted with individual faces and expressive gestures, which are enriched by an incredible color palette and gold leaf.
1 available facsimile edition(s) of „Tuti-Nama“
Tuti-Nama
- Publisher
- Akademische Druck- u. Verlagsanstalt (ADEVA) – Graz, 1976
- Binding
- Leather, according to oriental pattern.
- Commentary
-
1 volume (224 pages) by P. Chandra and S. E. Lee
Languages: English, German
P. Chandra, Chicago. 224 pp. text and 121 plates. Preface by S. E. Lee, Cleveland. Oct., cloth with colour jacket. - More Information
- Reproduction of the entire original document as detailed as possible (scope, format, colors). The binding may not correspond to the original or current document binding.
Matching Works
Aesopus - Vita et Fabulae
One of the earliest prints in book history: famous fables with style-forming, colored woodcuts
Experience MoreEmperor Maximilian I: Theuerdank
The emperor as a chivalric hero: a partly biographical knightly epic written by Maximilian I himself
Experience MoreMatching Background Articles
Literature
Much like today, medieval readers were looking for stories full of excitement and adventure that would take them out of...Experience more16th Century
When did the Middle Ages end and the Early Modern Period begin? Most agree it was sometime in the course of the 16th...Experience more
- Treatises / Secular Books
- Apocalypses / Beatus
- Astronomy / Astrology
- Bestiaries
- Bibles / Gospels
- Chronicles / History / Law
- Geography / Maps
- Saints' Lives
- Islam / Oriental
- Judaism / Hebrew
- Single Leaf Collections
- Leonardo da Vinci
- Literature / Poetry
- Liturgical Manuscripts
- Medicine / Botany / Alchemy
- Music
- Mythology / Prophecies
- Psalters
- Other Religious Books
- Games / Hunting
- Private Devotion Books
- Other Genres
- Aboca Museum
- Akademische Druck- u. Verlagsanstalt (ADEVA)
- Aldo Ausilio Editore - Bottega d’Erasmo
- Alecto Historical Editions
- Ars Magna
- ArtCodex
- AyN Ediciones
- Bärenreiter-Verlag
- Belser Verlag
- Belser Verlag / WK Wertkontor
- Bernardinum Wydawnictwo
- BiblioGemma
- Biblioteca Apostolica Vaticana (Vaticanstadt, Vaticanstadt)
- Bibliotheca Palatina Faksimile Verlag
- Bibliotheca Rara
- CAPSA, Ars Scriptoria
- Circulo Cientifico
- Club Bibliófilo Versol
- CM Editores
- Collezione Apocrifa Da Vinci
- Comissão Nacional para as Comemorações dos Descobrimentos Portugueses
- Coron Verlag
- De Agostini/UTET
- DIAMM
- E. Schreiber Graphische Kunstanstalten
- Ediciones Boreal
- Ediciones Grial
- Edilan
- Editalia
- Edition Leipzig
- Edition Libri Illustri
- Editiones Reales Sitios S. L.
- Editions Medicina Rara
- Editorial Mintzoa
- Egeria, S.L.
- Extraordinary Editions
- Facsimile Editions Ltd.
- Facsimilia Art & Edition Ebert KG
- Faksimile Verlag
- Franco Cosimo Panini Editore
- Fundación Hullera Vasco-Leonesa
- Giunti Editore
- Graffiti
- Grafica European Center of Fine Arts
- Helikon
- Herder Verlag
- Hes & De Graaf Publishers
- Hugo Schmidt Verlag
- Idion Verlag
- Il Bulino, edizioni d'arte
- Imago
- Insel Verlag
- Istituto dell'Enciclopedia Italiana - Treccani
- Istituto Poligrafico e Zecca dello Stato
- Kaydeda Ediciones
- La Meta Editore
- Leo S. Olschki
- Libreria Musicale Italiana
- Lumen Artis
- M. Moleiro Editor
- Manuscriptum
- Millennium Liber
- Nova Charta
- Orbis Mediaevalis
- Orbis Pictus
- Österreichische Staatsdruckerei
- Patrimonio Ediciones
- PIAF
- Popyläen Verlag
- Prestel Verlag
- Priuli & Verlucca, editori
- Pro Sport Verlag
- Pytheas Books
- Quaternio Verlag Luzern
- Reales Sitios
- Reichert Verlag
- Roberto Vattori Editore
- Salerno Editrice
- Schöck ArtPrint Kft.
- Scrinium
- Scripta Maneant
- Scriptorium
- Siloé, arte y bibliofilia
- Styria Verlag
- Tempus Libri
- Testimonio Compañía Editorial
- The Clear Vue Publishing Partnership Limited
- The Facsimile Codex
- The Folio Society
- Tip.Le.Co
- TouchArt
- Trident Editore
- Vallecchi
- Van Wijnen
- Vicent Garcia Editores
- Wiener Mechitharisten-Congregation (Wien, Österreich)
- Yushodo