The Brahman gambler sees the daughter of the king of the jinns in a pit together with an old man and a cauldron of boiling oil, from a Tuti-nama (Tales of a Parrot: Seventh Night), c. 1560
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The Brahman gambler sees the daughter of the king of the jinns in a pit together with an old man and a cauldron of boiling oil, from a Tuti-nama (Tales of a Parrot: Seventh Night)

c. 1560

Medium
gum tempera, ink, and gold on paper
Classification
Painting
Dimensions
Overall: 20.3 x 14 cm (8 x 5 1/2 in.); Painting only: 9.3 x 10 cm (3 11/16 x 3 15/16 in.)
Culture
Mughal India, court of Akbar (reigned 1556–1605)
Museum
Cleveland Museum of Art, Indian and Southeast Asian Art
Credit line
Gift of Mrs. A. Dean Perry
Rights
Public domain (CC0), as the museum states it.
Who can see it
Teens profiles and older: its subject is for older viewers (war, death, the Passion, drink or the like). How works are placed

View at the Cleveland Museum of Art

About this work

A destitute Brahman peers into an open pit. At the bottom, he sees a beautiful woman and her elderly lover, who has stoked the fire beneath the cauldron for nearly eighty years. She gives the Brahman two gold bracelets, which he holds in each hand. The pit is represented in cross-section, allowing the viewers to see the action inside.