The Cleveland Museum of Art

Collection Online as of December 13, 2025

Jesus being awakened during a tempest on the Sea of Galilee (folio 77 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
Page: 26.2 x 15.6 cm (10 5/16 x 6 1/8 in.)
John L. Severance Fund 2005.145.77.a
Location: Not on view

Did You Know?

The apostle wearing green appears to be seasick.

Description

The boat carrying Jesus and his apostles encountered a tempest on the Sea of Galilee. As the apostles began to panic and fear that their boat would sink, Jesus continued to sleep peacefully. The painter illustrates the moment before Jesus was awakened by his apostles, who are frightened by the storm and perhaps also by the crocodile that sticks its head out of the waves. The power of the gale is indicated by the violently twisting sail and the Mughal-style tassel that swings at the top of the mast. This composition is the only one in the Cleveland manuscript to be based on an identifiable European print.
  • 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. 354, fig. 10.40.
    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 being awakened during a tempest on the Sea of Galilee (folio 77 recto), 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/2005.145.77.a