Updated November 2026 · ranked by our popularity score (searches, visits and orders for each work) · 13 works by Basawan in our catalogue
Summary
Mihrdukht aims her arrow at the ring (1570) is recorded as the most famous painting of Basawan; it is held by the Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York. The hunter offers the mother parrot to the king of Kamarupa, from a Tuti-nama (Tales of a Parrot): Fifth Night (1560) and The hunter throws away the baby parrots, who pretend to be dead, and captures the mother, from a Tuti-nama (Tales of a Parrot): Fifth Night (1560) occupy the second and third entries. Of the 13 works by Basawan recorded in the catalogue, the 13 best known are listed below, each entry with its date, the holding museum and a note on the work.
1. Mihrdukht aims her arrow at the ring 1570
2. The hunter offers the mother parrot to the king of Kamarupa, from a Tuti-nama (Tales of a Parrot): Fifth Night 1560
3. The hunter throws away the baby parrots, who pretend to be dead, and captures the mother, from a Tuti-nama (Tales of a Parrot): Fifth Night 1560
The air holds its breath as Mihrdukht leans over the balcony, her focus narrowing to a single, slender point. She aims her arrow at the ring, a gesture that freezes the very pulse of the court. Below her, the world unfolds in layers of architectural precision and organic life. Attendants and observers gather in the shadows of the structure, their eyes drawn upward to the woman and her task. The…
The 6 museums that hold the most of the paintings on this page.
| Museum | City | Works by Basawan | Paintings from this list |
|---|---|---|---|
 Cleveland Museum of Art |
Cleveland | 8 | The hunter offers the mother parrot to the king of Kamarupa, from a Tuti-nama (Tales of a Parrot): Fifth Night, The hunter throws away the baby parrots, who pretend to be dead, and captures the mother, from a Tuti-nama (Tales of a Parrot): Fifth Night, The donkey, in a tiger’s skin, reveals his identity by braying aloud, from a Tuti-nama (Tales of a Parrot): Thirty-first Night |
 Metropolitan Museum of Art |
New York | 1 | Mihrdukht aims her arrow at the ring |
 Victoria and Albert Museum |
London | 1 | Akbar visits the tomb of Khwajah Mu'in ad-Din Chishti at Ajmer |
 Art Institute of Chicago |
Chicago | 1 | The Young Emperor Akbar Arrests the Insolent Shah Abu’l-Maali, page from a manuscript of the Akbarnama |
 Museum of Art |
San Diego | 1 | The Virgin and Child |
 Harvard Art Museums |
Cambridge | 1 | A Mughal and a Rajput Converse at Dusk |
Select a decade to display its principal painting.
The air holds its breath as Mihrdukht leans over the balcony, her focus narrowing to a single, slender point. She aims her arrow at the ring, a gesture that freezes the very pulse of the court. Below her, the world unfolds in layers of architectural precision and organic life. Attendants and observers gather in the shadows of the structure, their eyes drawn upward to the woman and her task. The…
Mihrdukht aims her arrow at the ring (1570), Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York. The following entries are The hunter offers the mother parrot to the king of Kamarupa, from a Tuti-nama (Tales of a Parrot): Fifth Night (1560) and The hunter throws away the baby parrots, who pretend to be dead, and captures the mother, from a Tuti-nama (Tales of a Parrot): Fifth Night (1560).
10 years: Basawan was born in 1560 and Mihrdukht aims her arrow at the ring is dated 1570.
Mihrdukht aims her arrow at the ring, The hunter offers the mother parrot to the king of Kamarupa, from a Tuti-nama (Tales of a Parrot): Fifth Night, The hunter throws away the baby parrots, who pretend to be dead, and captures the mother, from a Tuti-nama (Tales of a Parrot): Fifth Night, The donkey, in a tiger’s skin, reveals his identity by braying aloud, from a Tuti-nama (Tales of a Parrot): Thirty-first Night, A feast for Babur hosted by his half-brother Jahangir Mirza in Ghazni in May 1505, from a Babur-nama (Memoirs of Babur), Akbar visits the tomb of Khwajah Mu'in ad-Din Chishti at Ajmer, The Young Emperor Akbar Arrests the Insolent Shah Abu’l-Maali, page from a manuscript of the Akbarnama, The Virgin and Child, 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) and Page from Tales of a Parrot (Tuti-nama): text page. The list above records the date and holding museum of each.
The catalogue records 13 works by Basawan, dated between 1570 and 1596.
Principally in Cleveland Museum of Art (Cleveland), Metropolitan Museum of Art (New York) and Victoria and Albert Museum (London). The museum table above gives the full distribution.
In 1590s: 4 of the 13 works listed on this page are dated to that period, including Akbar visits the tomb of Khwajah Mu'in ad-Din Chishti at Ajmer.
The earliest dated work listed here is Mihrdukht aims her arrow at the ring (1570); the latest is 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) (1596).
The hunter offers the mother parrot to the king of Kamarupa, from a Tuti-nama (Tales of a Parrot): Fifth Night, The hunter throws away the baby parrots, who pretend to be dead, and captures the mother, from a Tuti-nama (Tales of a Parrot): Fifth Night and The donkey, in a tiger’s skin, reveals his identity by braying aloud, from a Tuti-nama (Tales of a Parrot): Thirty-first Night are among the 8 works on this page in the collection of the Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland.
