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): Art, History and Details

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) is in the Cleveland Museum of Art collection.

The work and its context

The museum's open-access catalogue describes the work:

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.

Object facts

• 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
• Date: 1602–4
• Culture: Mughal India, Allahabad, made for Prince Salim (1569–1627)
• Type: Manuscript
• Technique: Gum tempera, ink, color, and gold on paper
• Dimensions: Page: 26.2 x 15.6 cm (10 5/16 x 6 1/8 in.)
• Collection: Indian Art
• Department: Indian and Southeast Asian Art
• Accession number: 2005.145.77.a

A detail from the museum

The apostle wearing green appears to be seasick.

Collection credit

John L. Severance Fund

Further reading listed by the museum

• 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.
• 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.

View the collection record

See the museum's photographs and full catalogue entry. Catalogue text is reproduced from the Cleveland Museum of Art's open-access data, with HTML formatting removed. This object and its supplied image are designated CC0.