{
"data": {
"id": 137588,
"accession_number": "1962.279.207.a",
"share_license_status": "CC0",
"tombstone": "The donkey, in a tiger\u2019s skin, reveals his identity by braying aloud, from a Tuti-nama (Tales of a Parrot): Thirty-first Night, c. 1560. Attributed to Basavana (Indian, active c. 1560\u20131600). Gum tempera, ink, and gold on paper; 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.). The Cleveland Museum of Art, Gift of Mrs. A. Dean Perry, 1962.279.207.a",
"current_location": null,
"title": "The donkey, in a tiger\u2019s skin, reveals his identity by braying aloud, from a Tuti-nama (Tales of a Parrot): Thirty-first Night",
"creation_date": "c. 1560",
"creation_date_earliest": 1555,
"creation_date_latest": 1565,
"artists_tags": [
"male"
],
"culture": [
"Mughal India, court of Akbar (reigned 1556\u20131605)"
],
"technique": "gum tempera, ink, and gold on paper",
"support_materials": [],
"department": "Indian and Southeast Asian Art",
"collection": "Indian Art",
"type": "Painting",
"measurements": "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.)",
"dimensions": {
"overall": {
"height": 0.203,
"height_inch": 8,
"height_inch_fraction": 0.0,
"width": 0.14,
"width_inch": 5,
"width_inch_fraction": 0.5
},
"painting only": {
"height": 0.138,
"height_inch": 5,
"height_inch_fraction": 0.4375,
"width": 0.1,
"width_inch": 3,
"width_inch_fraction": 0.9375
}
},
"state_of_the_work": null,
"edition_of_the_work": null,
"copyright": null,
"inscriptions": [],
"exhibitions": {
"current": [],
"legacy": [
{
"description": "Main Asian Rotation (Gallery 245). The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH (July 2, 2014-January 5, 2015).",
"opening_date": "2014-07-02T00:00:00"
}
]
},
"provenance": [
{
"description": "Estate of Breckinridge Long [1881\u20131958], Bowie, MD",
"citations": [],
"footnotes": [
"Samuel Miller Breckinridge Long (May 16, 1881\u2013September 26, 1958) was an American diplomat and politician, who served in the administrations of Presidents Woodrow Wilson and Franklin Delano Roosevelt. Long is largely remembered for his obstructionist role as the Assistant Secretary of State responsible for granting refugee visas during World War II.
His interests included the collection of antiques, paintings and American ship models. He maintained a stable of Thoroughbred race horses and was a director of the Laurel Park Racecourse in Laurel, Maryland, and he enjoyed fox hunting, fishing, and sailing.
"
],
"date": "?\u20131959",
"sortorder": 1
},
{
"description": "(Harry Burke Antiques, Philadelphia, PA)",
"citations": [],
"footnotes": null,
"date": "1959\u20131962?",
"sortorder": 2
},
{
"description": "(Bernard Brown Agency, Milwaukee, WI, sold to the Cleveland Museum of Art. Purchased with funds from Mrs. A. Dean [Helen Wade Greene] Perry)",
"citations": [],
"footnotes": null,
"date": "1959?\u20131962",
"sortorder": 3
},
{
"description": "The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH",
"citations": [],
"footnotes": null,
"date": "1962\u2013",
"sortorder": 4
}
],
"find_spot": null,
"related_works": [],
"former_accession_numbers": [],
"did_you_know": "The complex brushwork, soft grass, and furry tiger\u2019s skin are characteristics of the artist Basavana\u2019s distinctive style.",
"early_education_description": null,
"artlens_description": null,
"description": "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\u2019s skin, in which he dressed his donkey at night, so he could forage freely in fields, frightening away the owners\u2019 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.",
"external_resources": {
"wikidata": [
"https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q60467206"
],
"internet_archive": [
"https://archive.org/details/clevelandart-1962.279.207.a-the-donkey-in-a-tige"
]
},
"citations": [
{
"citation": "Chandra, Pramod, and Daniel J. Ehnbom. The Cleveland Tuti-Nama Manuscript and the Origins of Mughal Painting. Cleveland, OH: The Cleveland Museum of Art, 1976.",
"page_number": "Mentioned: pp. 131-132",
"url": null
},
{
"citation": "Chandra, Pramod, and Daniel J. Ehnbom. The Cleveland Tuti-Nama Manuscript and the Origins of Mughal Painting. [Cleveland]: Cleveland Museum of Art, 1976.",
"page_number": "pp. 78, 131",
"url": null
},
{
"citation": "Nakhshabi\u0304, Z\u0324iya\u0304\u02bc al-Di\u0304n, and Muhammed Ahmed Simsar, translator and editor. Tales of a Parrot = The Cleveland Museum of Art's T\u0323u\u0304t\u0323i\u0304na\u0304ma. Cleveland, OH: The Museum, 1978.",
"page_number": "Mentioned: pp. 196-200",
"url": null
}
],
"url": "https://clevelandart.org/art/1962.279.207.a",
"images": {
"annotation": null,
"web": {
"url": "https://openaccess-cdn.clevelandart.org/1962.279.207.a/1962.279.207.a_web.jpg",
"width": "581",
"height": "893",
"filesize": "458137",
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"print": {
"url": "https://openaccess-cdn.clevelandart.org/1962.279.207.a/1962.279.207.a_print.jpg",
"width": "2212",
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"alternate_images": [
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"date_created": "2005-01-13T15:57:52",
"annotation": ""
}
],
"creditline": "Gift of Mrs. A. Dean Perry",
"image_credit": null,
"sketchfab_id": null,
"sketchfab_url": null,
"gallery_donor_text": null,
"athena_id": 137588,
"creators": [
{
"id": 6362,
"description": "Basavana (Indian, active c. 1560\u20131600)",
"extent": null,
"qualifier": "attributed to",
"role": "artist",
"biography": null,
"name_in_original_language": null,
"death_year": "1600",
"use_in_caption": true,
"include_extent": false,
"weight": 1
}
],
"legal_status": "accessioned",
"accession_date": "1962-11-17T00:00:00",
"sortable_date": 1555,
"date_added_to_oa": null,
"date_text": "c. 1560",
"collapse_artists": false,
"on_loan": false,
"recently_acquired": false,
"record_type": "part",
"conservation_statement": null,
"has_conservation_images": false,
"cover_accession_number": "1962.279",
"is_nazi_era_provenance": false,
"impression": null,
"alternate_titles": [
"Tuti-Nama (Tales of a Parrot): Tale XXXI, The donkey, in a tiger's skin, reveals his identity by braying aloud",
"Page from Tales of a Parrot (Tuti-nama): Thirty-first night: The donkey, in a tiger\u2019s skin, reveals his identity by braying aloud"
],
"is_highlight": false,
"updated_at": "2026-05-29 07:01:44.404000"
}
}