The Flowering of Joseph’s Rod (folio 11 verso), from a Mirror of Holiness (Mir’at al-quds) of Father Jerome Xavier (1602–04): Art, History and Details

The Flowering of Joseph’s Rod (folio 11 verso), from a Mirror of Holiness (Mir’at al-quds) of Father Jerome Xavier (1602–04) is in the Cleveland Museum of Art collection.

The work and its context

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

Joseph kneels outside the temple, among, according to the text, a group of unmarried men. The artist has depicted them dressed like contemporary Portuguese merchants wearing button-down belted shirts. The men had been ordered by God to bring their staffs to the temple; the one whose staff blossoms would become the husband of Mary. Joseph quivers with astonishment as his staff blooms; his hat falls to the ground as though it suddenly came off his head in surprise. Father Jerome’s source for this episode was the apocryphal Gospel of Pseudo-Matthew.

Object facts

• Title: The Flowering of Joseph’s Rod (folio 11 verso), from a Mirror of Holiness (Mir’at al-quds) of Father Jerome Xavier
• Date: 1602–04
• Culture: Mughal India, Allahabad, made for Prince Salim (1569–1627)
• Type: Manuscript
• Technique: Gum tempera, ink, and gold on paper
• Dimensions: Sheet: 26.2 x 15.1 cm (10 5/16 x 5 15/16 in.); Image: 19.5 x 9.5 cm (7 11/16 x 3 3/4 in.)
• Collection: Indian Art
• Department: Indian and Southeast Asian Art
• Accession number: 2005.145.11.b

A detail from the museum

The suitors in this scene are dressed as contemporary Portuguese men, but have followed the Muslim practice of removing their shoes while in the temple.

Collection credit

John L. Severance Fund

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.