The Cleveland Museum of Art
Collection Online as of December 13, 2025
The Flowering of Joseph’s Rod (folio 11 verso), from a Mirror of Holiness (Mir’at al-quds) of Father Jerome Xavier
1602–04
(1569–1627)
Sheet: 26.2 x 15.1 cm (10 5/16 x 5 15/16 in.); Image: 19.5 x 9.5 cm (7 11/16 x 3 3/4 in.)
John L. Severance Fund 2005.145.11.b
Location: Not on view
Did You Know?
The suitors in this scene are dressed as contemporary Portuguese men, but have followed the Muslim practice of removing their shoes while in the temple.Description
Joseph kneels outside the temple, among, according to the text, a group of unmarried men. The artist has depicted them dressed like contemporary Portuguese merchants wearing button-down belted shirts. The men had been ordered by God to bring their staffs to the temple; the one whose staff blossoms would become the husband of Mary. Joseph quivers with astonishment as his staff blooms; his hat falls to the ground as though it suddenly came off his head in surprise. Father Jerome’s source for this episode was the apocryphal Gospel of Pseudo-Matthew.- before 1930s–2005An Indian family in Great Britain, whose grandfather brought the manuscript to England in the 1930s or 1940s2005(Oliver Forge and Brendan Lynch Ltd., London, England, sold to the Cleveland Museum of Art)2005–The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH
- 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).
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Source URL:
https://www.clevelandart.org/art/2005.145.11.b