The donkey, in a tiger’s skin, reveals his identity by braying aloud, from a Tuti-nama (Tales of a Parrot): Thirty-first Night

The Cleveland Museum of Art · Gift of Mrs. A. Dean Perry

Museum

The donkey, in a tiger’s skin, reveals his identity by braying aloud, from a Tuti-nama (Tales of a Parrot): Thirty-first Night

c. 1560

ArtistBasavana (Indian, active c. 1560–1600)

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Medium: gum tempera, ink, and gold on paper
Dimensions: Overall: 20.3 x 14 cm (8 x 5 1/2 in.); Painting only: 13.8 x 10 cm (5 7/16 x 3 15/16 in.)
Classification: Painting
Style: Indian Art
Origin: Mughal India, court of Akbar (reigned 1556–1605)
Institution: The Cleveland Museum of Art
Credit: Gift of Mrs. A. Dean Perry

Market Intelligence

Observed sale facts, comparable evidence, artist index history and modeled research remain separate.

Public evidence

Last known price—0 matched observed sales

Observed median—

Observed sales0

Artist index—

No rights-cleared normalized observed sale is attached to this artwork. No synthetic price history is shown.

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Same-artist public sales ranked by medium, creation year, dimensions and sale recency.

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Provenance

Public

?–1959

Estate of Breckinridge Long [1881–1958], Bowie, MD

1959–1962?

(Harry Burke Antiques, Philadelphia, PA)

1959?–1962

(Bernard Brown Agency, Milwaukee, WI, sold to the Cleveland Museum of Art. Purchased with funds from...

1962–

The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH

Source provenance text

Estate of Breckinridge Long [1881–1958], Bowie, MD (Harry Burke Antiques, Philadelphia, PA) (Bernard Brown Agency, Milwaukee, WI, sold to the Cleveland Museum of Art. Purchased with funds from Mrs. A. Dean [Helen Wade Greene] Perry) The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH

The Cleveland Museum of Artconfidence 100%

Exhibitions

Public

Source exhibition text

Main Asian Rotation (Gallery 245). The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH (July 2, 2014-January 5, 2015).

The Cleveland Museum of Artconfidence 100%

Sourced Overview Evidence

This painting illustrates a story about a merchant who owned a donkey but did not have enough money to feed him. He was able to secure a tiger’s skin, in which he dressed his donkey at night, so he could forage freely in fields, frightening away the owners’ watchmen, seen here scrambling up in trees for safety. He succeeded for a time and grew fat and healthy, until a nearby donkey brayed, and he instinctively answered, revealing his true identity.

The Cleveland Museum of Artconfidence 100%

Evidence state

0 observed sales · 0 comparable sales · 4 structured provenance events · 0 structured exhibitions.

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