Artwork Page for The merchant’s clerk replaces the sugar purchased by the philandering wife with gravel, from a Tuti-nama (Tales of a Parrot): Eighth Night

Details / Information for The merchant’s clerk replaces the sugar purchased by the philandering wife with gravel, from a Tuti-nama (Tales of a Parrot): Eighth Night

The merchant’s clerk replaces the sugar purchased by the philandering wife with gravel, from a Tuti-nama (Tales of a Parrot): Eighth Night

c. 1560

Mughal India, court of Akbar

(reigned 1556–1605)
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Medium
gum tempera, ink, and gold on paper
Measurements
Painting only: 10.5 x 10.2 cm (4 1/8 x 4 in.); Overall: 20 x 14.4 cm (7 7/8 x 5 11/16 in.)
Credit Line
Gift of Mrs. A. Dean Perry 1962.279.70.a
Public Domain
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Location
Not on view
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A bowl beneath the lovers’ bed contains green pan leaves, which freshen breath when chewed.

Description

While buying sugar at the market, a woman has an impromptu affair with a merchant. The two lovers embrace in the chamber on the left. Outside the chamber the merchant’s clerk, wearing blue, surreptitiously replaces the adulteress’s sugar with gravel. Unaware of the switch, she will bring the bag of gravel back to her husband, who reacts with surprise and consternation
A vertically oriented gum tempera and ink painting depicts narrative scenes framed by Persian script. On our left, a couple with light skin tones sits together inside a building. In the upper right, a man with light skin tone looks down from a balcony. Below him, a merchant with light skin tone holds scales while a man with medium-light skin tone in a blue robe kneels to empty a sack.

The merchant’s clerk replaces the sugar purchased by the philandering wife with gravel, from a Tuti-nama (Tales of a Parrot): Eighth Night

c. 1560

Mughal India, court of Akbar (reigned 1556–1605)

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