Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, Ohio, USA Accession No. 1962.279.63.b
Location History:
Created in Mughal India around 1560; later passed through private collections in the United States before being acquired by the Cleveland Museum of Art in 1962.
The Handmaiden Appeals for Justice and the Prince Is Taken to the Execution Site for the Fourth Time is a Mughal miniature painting, created by Tara 2 in 1560. This artwork is part of the Tuti-nama, or Tales of a Parrot, an illustrated manuscript that narrates the parrot’s tales. The piece was created with gum tempera, ink, and gold on paper.
The given miniature is divided into two stories by the horizontal division of the page. The upper part of the painting depicts the king, who is sitting on the throne inside the pavilion, listening to the handmaiden’s plea for justice. A man and a woman are standing in front of the king, having joined their hands in a praying position. The lower part of the painting illustrates the story from the manuscript. The young prince is kneeling down beside the tree while the bearded man with a drawn sword prepares to take him to the execution site. The story depicts that the prince had been accused of sexually abusing the handmaiden, but the prince has taken a vow of silence and refuses to answer the accusations. Hence, the prince has been sentenced to death for the third time. In this illustration, the fourth time, the vizier will convince the king not to execute the prince by telling him the tale about the potential dangers of women.
The miniature depicts the characteristics of early Mughal miniature paintings, such as the use of bright colors, intricate architectural details, decorative elements, and compositional features of the narrative. The plot scenes are organized in a particular composition, which recreates the manuscript illumination. The reading of the tale is enhanced by the abundance of gold leaf, which makes the story more attractive and luxurious. Additionally, the story is set within the decorated border of the page, where the Persian script frames the tale. The Mughal artists, working under the emperor Akbar, managed to combine Indian and Persian elements, resulting in the development of unique Mughal styles.
This painting is part of the Cleveland Museum of Art's collection, which acquired it in 1962. The piece was added to the Cleveland Museum of Art’s Indian and Southeast Asian Art Collection in 1962.
This early Mughal miniature from the Tuti-nama (Tales of a Parrot) captures the tension between judicial authority, deception, and moral persuasion through a split narrative composition. Visually and stylistically, the painting illustrates a pivotal transition period in Mughal art under Emperor Akbar. The integration of Persian illumination standards—such as delicate gold leaf detailing, intricate architectural patterns, and framing Persian text—blends with the vivid colors, emotional expression, and direct narrative action typical of indigenous Indian painting traditions.
At its core, the artwork symbolizes the fragility of justice when detached from full truth. The prince’s vow of silence leaves him defenseless against accusation, while the impending intervention of the vizier emphasizes the manuscript’s broader theme: the power of storytelling to delay hasty judgment and reveal hidden motives.
