Salome Receiving John the Baptist’s Head on a Platter (folio 112 verso), from a Mirror of Holiness (Mir’at al-quds) of Father Jerome Xavier (1602–4): Art, History and Details

Salome Receiving John the Baptist’s Head on a Platter (folio 112 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:

Herod, King of Judea, sits on a Mughal-style throne as his wife’s daughter Salome reaches for the freshly severed head of John the Baptist. John had offended Herod’s wife, so she took revenge by having her daughter seduce Herod into granting her this wish. Salome is depicted modestly in this painting, and the court musician at the lower left looks on in disgust. The lion head capitals on the pillars above Herod are upside down, seemingly in disapproval of the debauched king.

Object facts

• Title: Salome Receiving John the Baptist’s Head on a Platter (folio 112 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: Sheet: 26.4 x 15.7 cm (10 3/8 x 6 3/16 in.); Image: 19.8 x 11.2 cm (7 13/16 x 4 7/16 in.)
• Collection: Indian Art
• Department: Indian and Southeast Asian Art
• Accession number: 2005.145.112.b

A detail from the museum

Column capitals in Herod’s palace have angels seated on upside-down lion heads.

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.