The Cleveland Museum of Art
Collection Online as of March 29, 2024
The court jester meets a Zangi dancing with joy, and learns from him that the cause of his happiness is his assignation with a woman who is the jester’s own wife, from a Tuti-nama (Tales of a Parrot): Twenty-second Night
c. 1560
(reigned 1556–1605)
Overall: 20.3 x 14 cm (8 x 5 1/2 in.); Painting only: 6.1 x 10.2 cm (2 3/8 x 4 in.)
Gift of Mrs. A. Dean Perry 1962.279.155.a
Location: not on view
Did You Know?
The tale references stereotypes about Africans that were current in India and Iran when the text was written.Description
In the opening scene of the parrot’s bawdy story about a jester, who is shown wearing green on his way to perform at the court of the emir, he came upon an Ethiopian, known as Zangi, dancing by the side of the road. When he learned that the Zangi was overjoyed because he was planning to meet his beloved, the jester’s own wife, the jester was so distraught he was unable to perform, and the emir threw him in prison. The artist depicted the Zangi as described in the text as semi-wild with caricatured physical traits, uncovered head, and little clothing.- ?–1959Estate of Breckinridge Long [1881–1958], Bowie, MD1959–1962?(Harry Burke Antiques, Philadelphia, PA)1959?–1962(Bernard Brown Agency, Milwaukee, WI, sold to the Cleveland Museum of Art. Purchased with funds from Mrs. A. Dean [Helen Wade Greene] Perry)1962–The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH
- Chandra, Pramod, and Daniel J. Ehnbom. The Cleveland Tuti-Nama Manuscript and the Origins of Mughal Painting. [Cleveland]: Cleveland Museum of Art, 1976. p. 122Seyller, John. “Overpainting in the Cleveland T̤ūtīnāma.” Artibus Asiae 52, no. 3/4 (1992): 283-318. p. 316 www.jstor.orgMace, Sonia Rhie, Dominique DeLuca, Dominique DeLuca, Mohsen Ashtiany, and Cleveland Museum of Art. Mughal Paintings: Art and Stories. [London] D Giles Limited, 2016. p. 244
- Indian Gallery 242b Rotation – November 2016. The Cleveland Museum of Art (organizer) (November 7, 2016-April 10, 2017).
- {{cite web|title=The court jester meets a Zangi dancing with joy, and learns from him that the cause of his happiness is his assignation with a woman who is the jester’s own wife, from a Tuti-nama (Tales of a Parrot): Twenty-second Night|url=false|author=|year=c. 1560|access-date=29 March 2024|publisher=Cleveland Museum of Art}}
Source URL:
https://www.clevelandart.org/art/1962.279.155.a