The Parrot's Advice — Tutinama, Sixth Night | Restored Mughal Wall Art

A young woman in conversation with a parrot in its gilded cage — the painting illustrates the sixth night of the Tutinama, the "Tales of a Parrot," in which a wise parrot tells stories to its mistress each night to dissuade her from a planned indiscretion. Above the painting, four cartouches of fine Persian Nastaliq script set the scene.

The Tutinama was one of Akbar's earliest manuscript commissions — produced ca. 1556-65 by the young imperial atelier, it survives as one of the most important records of the formative Mughal painting style, when the Persian tradition imported by Akbar's master painters was beginning to fuse with native Indian conventions.

Restored from the museum archives by aurahliving.com.