The Cleveland Museum of Art

Collection Online as of April 19, 2024

Mirror of Holiness (Mir’at al-quds) of Father Jerome Xavier

Mirror of Holiness (Mir’at al-quds) of Father Jerome Xavier

1602–4
(1569–1627)
24 full size illustrations with 160 folios of text; gum tempera, ink, and gold on paper
John L. Severance Fund 2005.145
Location: not on view

Description

Father Jerome Xavier (1549–1617) of the Society of Jesus, also known as the Jesuit order of Catholic priests, spent 19 years as a guest at the Mughal court from 1595 until 1614. While in residence he learned the Persian language so that he could engage in theological discussions in the courts of Akbar and his successor, Jahangir. When Akbar requested a biography of Jesus, Father Jerome wrote the Mir’at al-quds in Persian prose. This text relates his version of the life and miracles of Jesus based on a number of canonical and apocryphal sources. He emphasized aspects of the life of Jesus that he thought would appeal to Akbar in the hopes of winning the emperor’s conversion to Christianity.
  • before 1930s-2005
    An Indian family in Great Britain, whose grandfather brought the manuscript to England in the 1930s or 1940s
    2005
    (Oliver Forge and Brendan Lynch Ltd., London, UK, sold to the Cleveland Museum of Art)
    2005-
    The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH
  • Carvalho, Pedro de Moura, and W. M. Thackston. Mirʼāt al-quds (Mirror of holiness): a life of Christ for Emperor Akbar: a commentary on Father Jerome Xavier's text and the miniatures of Cleveland Museum of Art, Acc. no. 2005.145. Leiden: Brill, 2012.
    Cleveland Museum of Art. The CMA Companion: A Guide to the Cleveland Museum of Art. Cleveland: Cleveland Museum of Art, 2014. Mentioned and reproduced: p. 212
    Benay, Erin E. Italy by Way of India: Translating Art and Devotion in the Early Modern World. Turnhout: Harvey Miller Publishers, 2021. Mentioned and reproduced: pp. 19–21, fig. 8
  • Prince Salim's Life of Christ (Manuscript Rotation) - Gallery 115. The Cleveland Museum of Art (organizer) (December 2, 2019-July 1, 2020).
    Art and Stories from Mughal India. The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH (organizer) (July 31-October 23, 2016).
    Main Asian Rotation (Gallery 245). The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH (January 5-April 27, 2015). pages 2-8 only.
  • {{cite web|title=Mirror of Holiness (Mir’at al-quds) of Father Jerome Xavier|url=false|author=|year=1602–4|access-date=19 April 2024|publisher=Cleveland Museum of Art}}

Source URL:

https://www.clevelandart.org/art/2005.145