The Cleveland Museum of Art

Collection Online as of December 14, 2025

Angels bring food to Jesus in the wilderness (folio 55 recto), from a Mirror of Holiness (Mir’at al-quds) of Father Jerome Xavier

1602–4

Muhammad Sharif

(Indian, active c. 1600)
Mughal India, Allahabad, made for Prince Salim (1569–1627)
Gum tempera, ink, color, and gold on paper
Sheet: 26.2 x 15.7 cm (10 5/16 x 6 3/16 in.); Image: 20.5 x 11.3 cm (8 1/16 x 4 7/16 in.)
John L. Severance Fund 2005.145.55.a
Location: Not on view

Did You Know?

The artist has put faces in the rocks, following a Persian convention.

Description

To end his 40-day fast, five angels brought Jesus refreshments from heaven: breads, melons each with a knife for convenient cutting, fresh leeks, and what appear to be fragrant rice dishes and curries, along with cups of wine. Four of the angels are dressed in robes, and one is clothed only in feathers. After his baptism, Jesus spent 40 days and nights in the desert where he fasted, practiced spiritual exercises, and successfully resisted the temptations of Satan. Many of the rocks in this painting have faces, called grotesques.

This page is the only surviving folio from this manuscript that has an artist’s signature, written in the tiny pot by Jesus’s foot.
  • 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.
    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
  • 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=Angels bring food to Jesus in the wilderness (folio 55 recto), from a Mirror of Holiness (Mir’at al-quds) of Father Jerome Xavier|url=false|author=Muhammad Sharif|year=1602–4|access-date=14 December 2025|publisher=Cleveland Museum of Art}}

Source URL:

https://www.clevelandart.org/art/2005.145.55.a