The Magi Follow the Star (folio 34 recto), from a Mirror of Holiness (Mir’at al-quds) of Father Jerome Xavier
1602–4
Medium
Gum tempera, ink, and gold on paper
Dimensions
image: 20.6 × 10.9 cm · sheet: 26.2 × 15.7 cm
Classification
Manuscript
Department
Indian and Southeast Asian Art
Museum
Cleveland Museum of Art
Credit
John L. Severance Fund
Accession Number
2005.145.34.a
Tags
About this artwork
One of the three kings points excitedly at the star at the upper left edge of the page, while another bites the finger of astonishment; the third holds his fist over his heart. They are all dressed like Portuguese merchants, but they ride camels associated with their homeland in Arabia, as specified in the text. The Westerners whom Mughals would have seen, besides priests, were mainly merchants from the Portuguese port of Goa on India’s western coast. They regularly visited Akbar to negotiate tr...
About the Artist
Payag (Indian) ( ) · –