Illuminated opening page (folio 1 verso) and 131 folios with Persian text, from a Mirror of Holiness (Mir’at al-quds) of Father Jerome Xavier
Unknown Artist
1602–4; margins added with rebinding, about 1900
Medium
Gum tempera, ink, and gold on paper
Dimensions
painting only: 19.5 × 9.5 cm · page: 26.1 × 15.4 cm
Classification
Manuscript
Department
Indian and Southeast Asian Art
Museum
Cleveland Museum of Art
Credit
John L. Severance Fund
Accession Number
2005.145.1.b
About this artwork
The opening page of this Christian manuscript is ornamented in the manner of books made for elite Islamic patrons. Using costly pigments made from the semiprecious blue stone called lapis lazuli and gold paint, the artists created contrasting ground colors to set off delicate floral arabesques that evoke the waters and light of paradise. The text was written in Persian, the official court language of the Mughal rulers in India, and read from right to left. Father Jerome had studied Persian in In...