Indian Painting of the 1500s: Continuities and Transformations

The street cleaner, on his way to meet King Bhojaraja, sleeps under a tree where four thieves disguised as fellow travelers deprive him of a priceless pearl, from a Tuti-nama (Tales of a Parrot): Twelfth NightUnknown artist · 1555

The goldsmith and the carpenter inform the king of a dream in which the golden images plan to desert the city for lack of worshippers, from a Tuti-nama (Tales of a Parrot): Third NightUnknown artist · 1555

The tale of the three men trapped in a cave by a rolling boulder, from a Tuti-nama (Tales of a Parrot): Thirty-second NightBihzad (Persian, active in India mid-1500s) · 1555

The wife of the son of the vizier brings the magic wooden parrot to her lover, the monk, who exchanges it for the replica, from a Tuti-nama (Tales of a Parrot): Tenth NightLalu (Indian, active mid-1500s) · 1555

The monk returns the magic parrot to its rightful owner, the merchant, from a Tuti-nama (Tales of a Parrot): Tenth NightLalu (Indian, active mid-1500s) · 1555

The daughter of the merchant of Mazanderan asks the gardener for the rose, from a Tuti-nama (Tales of a Parrot): Twelfth NightUnknown artist · 1555

Harem night-bathing scene, from the Late Shah Jahan Album (recto)Unknown artist · 1648

The two couples reach a foreign city where they make their home, from a Tuti-nama (Tales of a Parrot): Thirty-third NightUnknown artist · 1555

Mukhtar throws his wife Maimuna into the pit, but she saves herself, from a Tuti-nama (Tales of a Parrot): Twenty-fifth NightUnknown artist · 1555

The parrot addresses Khujasta at the beginning of the forty-third night, from a Tuti-nama (Tales of a Parrot)Unknown artist · 1555

The parrot addresses Khujasta at the beginning of the forty-seventh night, from a Tuti-nama (Tales of a Parrot): Forty-seventh NightUnknown artist · 1555

A holy man prostrating himself before a learned princeManohar (Indian, active late 1500s) · 1580

The son of the king of Babylon sees the Brahman transformed into a woman bathing and falls in love with her, from a Tuti-nama (Tales of a Parrot): Thirty-fifth NightUnknown artist · 1555

The snake enters into an argument with the frog, from a Tuti-nama (Tales of a Parrot): Twenty-sixth NightUnknown artist · 1555

The merchant’s daughter meets the gardener, from a Tuti-nama (Tales of a Parrot): Twelfth NightUnknown artist · 1555

Khujasta kills the pet mynah who advises her not to be unfaithful to Maymun, her husband, from a Tuti-nama (Tales of the Parrot): First NightUnknown artist · 1555

The emir slays the snake after giving it shelter, from a Tuti-nama (Tales of a Parrot): Forty-fifth NightUnknown artist · 1555

Akrura Drives Krishna and Balarama to Mathura, from the “Isarda Bhagavata Purana”Unknown artist · 1555

A mendicant bowing before a holy man, from the Prince Salim AlbumBasavana (Indian, active c. 1560–1600) · 1580

Hunting with falcons in a landscape (recto)Abd al-Samad (Persian, c. 1510–1600) · 1553

The merchant’s daughter encounters a wolf and bandits on her way to meet the gardener in order to keep her promise, from a Tuti-nama (Tales of a Parrot): Twelfth NightUnknown artist · 1555

Portrait of a kneeling holy man, from the Prince Salim AlbumMir Sayyid Ali (Persian, active in Iran 1540s–50, active in India 1555–1580) · 1555

A traveler persuades Lorik to return home (top); Chanda objects (bottom), from a Chandayana (Story of Chanda)Unknown artist · 1535

The siege of Arbela in the era of Hulagu Khan, from a Chingiz-nama (Book of Chingiz Khan) of the Jami al-tavarikh (Compendium of Chronicles) of Rashid al-Din (Persian, 1247–1318)Basavana (Indian, active c. 1560–1600) · 1591

The Marriage of Pradyumna and Rukmavati, page from a Bhagavata PuranaUnknown artist · 1520

Nanda and the elders, page from a Bhagavata PuranaUnknown artist · 1520

Krishna sporting with the gopis in the Jumna River, from a Bhagavata PuranaUnknown artist · 1520

Alamshah cleaving asunder the chain of the wheel, from volume 11 of a Hamza-nama (Adventures of Hamza)Unknown artist · 1555