Description
Instead of a stable, the artist has interpreted the place of Jesus’s birth as an abandoned ruin. Mary is cleaning it with a peacock-feather whisk, while Joseph negotiates with a man dressed in full Mughal attire at the doorway. The camel is laden with belongings and an Indian-style bed.
Provenance
An Indian family in Great Britain, whose grandfather brought the manuscript to England in the 1930s or 1940s (before 1930s–2005); (Oliver Forge and Brendan Lynch Ltd., London, England, sold to the Cleveland Museum of Art) (2005); The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH (2005–)
The place of Jesus’s birth (folio 25 recto), from a Mirror of Holiness (Mir’at al-quds) of Father Jerome Xavier
1602–4
Accession Number
2005.145.25.b
Medium
Gum tempera, ink, and gold on paper
Dimensions
Page: 26.3 x 15.6 cm (10 3/8 x 6 1/8 in.)
Classification
Manuscript
Credit Line
John L. Severance Fund
