Mirror of Holiness (Mir’at al-quds) of Father Jerome Xavier
From the collection of Cleveland Museum of Art. Free to download, adapt and use — no permission needed.
Father Jerome Xavier (1549–1617) of the Society of Jesus, also known as the Jesuit order of Catholic priests, spent 19 years as a guest at the Mughal court from 1595 until 1614. While in residence he learned the Persian language so that he could engage in theological discussions in the courts of Akbar and his successor, Jahangir. When Akbar requested a biography of Jesus, Father Jerome wrote the Mir’at al-quds in Persian prose. This text relates his version of the life and miracles of Jesus based on a number of canonical and apocryphal sources. He emphasized aspects of the life of Jesus that he thought would appeal to Akbar in the hopes of winning the emperor’s conversion to Christianity.
Cleveland Museum of Art’s own descriptionSimilar works
Tuti-Nama (Tales of a Parrot)
Simeon Kneels in Front of Mary and Jesus after Recognizing Them (folio 40 recto), from a Mirror of Holiness (Mir’at al-quds) of Father Jerome Xavier
Yusuf and Zulaykha (recto); Text Page, Persian Verses (verso)
Page of disasters, from the Tarikh-i Alfi (History of a Thousand Years)
The Parrot Addresses Khujasta at the Beginning of the Eighteenth Night, from a Tuti-nama (Tales of a Parrot)
Couple on cushioned chairs in a palace with two maids behind them