The Cleveland Museum of Art

Collection Online as of December 13, 2025

The Magi Follow the Star (folio 34 recto), from a Mirror of Holiness (Mir’at al-quds) of Father Jerome Xavier

1602–4

attributed to Payag

(Indian)
Mughal India, Allahabad, made for Prince Salim (1569–1627)
Gum tempera, ink, and gold on paper
Sheet: 26.2 x 15.7 cm (10 5/16 x 6 3/16 in.); Image: 20.6 x 10.9 cm (8 1/8 x 4 5/16 in.)
John L. Severance Fund 2005.145.34.a
Location: Not on view

Did You Know?

At the breakaway court of Prince Salim in Allahabad, high-quality materials were not as plentiful as in the imperial capital. The paper is brittle and has browned excessively, and the paint films are relatively thin; here the text from the verso shows through the lightly colored background.

Description

One of the three kings points excitedly at the star at the upper left edge of the page, while another bites the finger of astonishment; the third holds his fist over his heart. They are all dressed like Portuguese merchants, but they ride camels associated with their homeland in Arabia, as specified in the text.

The Westerners whom Mughals would have seen, besides priests, were mainly merchants from the Portuguese port of Goa on India’s western coast. They regularly visited Akbar to negotiate trade agreements, so they served as the primary visual model for all nonclerical Europeans. The artists who produced this manuscript worked for Akbar before joining Prince Salim at his rebel court in Allahabad.
  • 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
  • Gommans, Jos J. L. The Unseen World: The Netherlands and India from 1550. [Amsterdam]: Rijks Museum: Uitgeverij Vantilt, 2018. Reproduced: p. 154, fig. 2.55
  • Prince Salim's Life of Christ (Manuscript Rotation) - Gallery 115. The Cleveland Museum of Art (organizer) (December 2, 2019-July 1, 2020).
    Main Asian Rotation (Gallery 245). The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH (January 5-April 27, 2015)
  • {{cite web|title=The Magi Follow the Star (folio 34 recto), from a Mirror of Holiness (Mir’at al-quds) of Father Jerome Xavier|url=false|author=Payag|year=1602–4|access-date=13 December 2025|publisher=Cleveland Museum of Art}}

Source URL:

https://www.clevelandart.org/art/2005.145.34.a