Moses praying to end the serpents’ attack on the Israelites (folio 63 verso), from a Mirror of Holiness (Mir’at al-quds) of Father Jerome Xavier (1602–4): Art, History and Details

Moses praying to end the serpents’ attack on the Israelites (folio 63 verso), 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:

After the Israelites complained about the difficulties of their journey out of Egypt, God punished them for their lack of gratitude by sending snakes to bite and plague them. Apparently reveling in the brutality of the scene, the artist shows men and women alike being savaged by snakes, one of whose tail slithers over the rulings of the right margin. An Israelite woman raises her hands and pleads with Moses to help them, promising repentance, and he intercedes on their behalf. Father Jerome used this episode to demonstrate how repentant believers merit salvation.

Object facts

• Title: Moses praying to end the serpents’ attack on the Israelites (folio 63 verso), 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: 26.3 x 15.6 cm (10 3/8 x 6 1/8 in.); Painting only: 18.9 x 10.5 cm (7 7/16 x 4 1/8 in.)
• Collection: Indian Art
• Department: Indian and Southeast Asian Art
• Accession number: 2005.145.63.b

A detail from the museum

This is an Old Testament scene, rather than a scene from the life of Christ.

Collection credit

John L. Severance Fund

Further reading listed by the museum

• 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.