The Cleveland Museum of Art

Collection Online as of July 16, 2025

Jesus writes on the ground (folio 130 verso), from a Mirror of Holiness (Mir’at al-quds) of Father Jerome Xavier

1602–4
(1569–1627)
Gum tempera, ink, color, and gold on paper
Sheet: 26.3 x 15.5 cm (10 3/8 x 6 1/8 in.); Image: 21 x 11.4 cm (8 1/4 x 4 1/2 in.)
John L. Severance Fund 2005.145.130.b
Location: not on view

Did You Know?

The adulteress wears a red dress, gold rings, and a necklace under her stole.

Description

As Jesus was debating with the scribes and Pharisees in Jerusalem, they brought before him an adulterous woman. Hoping to incite him to violence, they declared that if Jesus followed the law of Moses, he should order her to be stoned to death. Jesus responded, “Let whichever of you is without sin cast the first stone.” Then he began to write with his finger on the ground, and each of the men saw a description of his own sins. The two men in the bottom corner of the painting clutch stones with expressions of doubt, fear, and disgust. The adulteress in the red dress holds out her hands in supplication.
  • 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, England, 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.
  • 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).
  • {{cite web|title=Jesus writes on the ground (folio 130 verso), from a Mirror of Holiness (Mir’at al-quds) of Father Jerome Xavier|url=false|author=|year=1602–4|access-date=16 July 2025|publisher=Cleveland Museum of Art}}

Source URL:

https://www.clevelandart.org/art/2005.145.130.b