The queen of Rum watches the peahen prefer to burn rather than abandon her eggs while the peacock flees the nest, from a Tuti-nama (Tales of a Parrot): Thirty-ninth Night
1555–1565
- Medium
- gum tempera, ink, and gold on paper
- Dimensions
- Overall: 20.3 x 14 cm (8 x 5 1/2 in.); Painting only: 16 x 10.3 cm (6 5/16 x 4 1/16 in.)
- Genre
- painting
- Museum
- Cleveland Museum of Art
Tags
Mughal India, court of Akbar (reigned 1556–1605)
About
The queen of Rum sits in the upper balcony of her palace watching the fire in her garden with shock. Two female attendants observe the action from the room below. The cowardliness of the peacock in the face of danger convinced the queen of the disloyalty of men. As a result, she vowed to never marry.