The Cleveland Museum of Art

Collection Online as of December 13, 2025

The Marriage at Cana (folio 58 verso), 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: 26.3 x 15.7 cm (10 3/8 x 6 3/16 in.); Image: 19.5 x 11.3 cm (7 11/16 x 4 7/16 in.)
John L. Severance Fund 2005.145.58.b
Location: Not on view

Description

Mary and Jesus sit in places of honor at the wedding of her relatives in Cana in front of a building facade ornamented at the top with charming rows of animal faces. The text specifies that there were six water jars at the gathering, as depicted in the lower left. The wine master in the yellow tunic gestures to the jars, as he admonishes the host for saving the good wine for last. The dumbstruck host, who knew there was no more wine, has discovered that Jesus miraculously transformed the water into wine. The figure wearing the crimson velvet hat with his hand on the host’s shoulder is probably the groom. The miracle inspired him to leave his bride a virgin and follow Christ as the apostle John.
  • 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).
  • {{cite web|title=The Marriage at Cana (folio 58 verso), from a Mirror of Holiness (Mir’at al-quds) of Father Jerome Xavier|url=false|author=|year=1602–4|access-date=13 December 2025|publisher=Cleveland Museum of Art}}

Source URL:

https://www.clevelandart.org/art/2005.145.58.b