The Cleveland Museum of Art

Collection Online as of December 14, 2025

The Flagellation (folio 182 recto), from a Mirror of Holiness (Mir’at al-quds) of Father Jerome Xavier

1602–4

Mughal India, Allahabad, made for Prince Salim

(1569–1627)
Gum tempera, ink, color, and gold on paper
Sheet: 26.2 x 15.3 cm (10 5/16 x 6 in.); Image: 22.3 x 13.3 cm (8 3/4 x 5 1/4 in.)
John L. Severance Fund 2005.145.182.a
Location: Not on view

Did You Know?

A halo encircles Jesus’s head, and his hair and beard are highlighted with gold.

Description

Two Romans flog Jesus, who has been bound to a stake at the center of the circular composition made up of soldiers and the hilly horizon. His subtly articulated expression conveys both pain and compassion, as he endures cuts to his flesh and the bindings around his elbows that secure him so tightly to the post that his feet are elevated off the ground. This is the last illustration in the Cleveland manuscript of the Mirror of Holiness. The Crucifixion was never illustrated, possibly because the patron, Prince Salim, was Muslim. According to the Koran, Jesus did not die on the cross, but was absorbed into heaven by Allah.
  • 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
  • O’Malley, John W., Gauvin A. Bailey, and Giovanni Sale. The Jesuits and the Arts, 1540-1773. 1st English ed. Philadelphia: Saint Joseph’s University Press, 2005. Reproduced: p. 355, fig. 10.42
    Beach, Milo Cleveland, Eberhard Fischer, B. N. Goswamy, and Jorrit Britschgi. Masters of Indian Painting. Vol. 1. 1100-1650. Zurich, Switzerland: Artibus Asiae Publishers, 2011. Reproduced: p. 138, fig. 19; p. 144, fig. 8
    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.
    Amaladass, Anand, and Gudrun Löwner. Christian Themes in Indian Art : From the Mogul Times till Today. New Delhi: Manohar Publishers & Distributors, 2012. p. 50, 2/23
    Quintanilla, Sonya Rhie. “Art and Stories: Dazzling paintings and luxurious objects tell tales from Mughal India.” Cleveland Art: Cleveland Museum of Art Members Magazine 56, no. 4 (July/August 2016): 5-7. Reproduced: p. 7; Mentioned: p. 6 archive.org
    Gommans, Jos J. L. The Unseen World: The Netherlands and India from 1550. [Amsterdam] : Rijks Museum: Uitgeverij Vantilt, 2018. Reproduced: p. 217, fig. 3.46
  • 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=The Flagellation (folio 182 recto), from a Mirror of Holiness (Mir’at al-quds) of Father Jerome Xavier|url=false|author=|year=1602–4|access-date=14 December 2025|publisher=Cleveland Museum of Art}}

Source URL:

https://www.clevelandart.org/art/2005.145.182.a