Painting, Khojasta talking to parrot, Tuti-nama illustration, Mughal, late 16th century

Painting, in opaque watercolour on paper, Khojasta, the merchant's wife, talking to the parrot. Illustration to the story of the 11th night from a manuscript of the Tuti-nama, 'Tales of a Parrot', by Ziya al-din Nakhshabi.

Khojasta, the merchant's wife, listening to the parrot.

This folio, numbered 55 in Arabic numerals in the margin at lower right, '7' at the top, centre (continental form of the number) and '1' at upper right, is a detached page from the Mughal manuscript no. 21 now in the Chester Beatty Library, Dublin. The manuscript bears seals demonstrating that was in the Mughal imperial library in 1010 AH/1601-2, and remained there at least until the reign of Shah Jahan in 1061AH/1650-1. It was later given by General Jean-Francois Allard (1785-1839), a French officer in the army of the Sikh ruler Maharaja Ranjit Singh, to his friend, the bibliophile Baron Felix Sebastien Feuillet de Conches, and is inscribed 'Le General Allard a son ami Feuillet, Paris, le 15 mai, 1836'. The fragmentary manuscript was bought by Alfred Chester Beatty from Khalil Meskine in Paris, in February 1937. A second dealer offered him 54 leaves from the same volume but he did not buy them, and these were widely dispersed. Some were in Indian collections, which may indicate that the volume was broken up before leaving India (Linda York Leach, Mughal and other Indian Paintings from the Chester Beatty Library, volume I, London, 1995, p. 22).
Stray pages from the manuscript are also in the National Museum, Delhi, the Bharat Kala Bhavan, Varanasi, and were in the collection of the late S. C. Welch. This page, together with three others of the same subject, was formerly in the collection of the late Professor R. A. Dara.

This is a detached folio from a copy of the Tuti Nama, or Tales of a Parrot. It was originally written in 1330, in Persian, by Ziya al-Din Nakhshabi who based it on older Persian stories. The manuscript to which this belonged was probably the copy of the text commissioned by the Mughal emperor Akbar (r.1556-1605) in about 1580, and broken up by the early 20th century. The tales are those told by a parrot to its mistress Khojasta, to entrance her and prevent her from visiting a lover during the absence of her husband, who was a merchant.
In the early 19th century, the manuscript which was then intact belonged to General Jean Francois Allard, a French general employed by the Sikh maharaja Ranjit Singh in the Panjab. Allard lived in India for almost twenty years, and probably acquired the manuscript in Lahore. On his return to France, he gave the volume to his friend, the bibliophile Baron Felix Sebastien Feuillet de Conches. At some point the manuscript was broken up, with a large part of the text and 102 paintings acquired by Sir Alfred Chester Beattyin 1937 for his library in Dublin, where they remain. At least 54 more paintings were circulating in the art market at the same time. The V&A bought this painting in 1966.

IS.40-1966