The Marriage at Cana (folio 58 verso), from a Mirror of Holiness (Mir’at al-quds) of Father Jerome Xavier (1602–4): Art, History and Details

The Marriage at Cana (folio 58 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:

Mary and Jesus sit in places of honor at the wedding of her relatives in Cana in front of a building facade ornamented at the top with charming rows of animal faces. The text specifies that there were six water jars at the gathering, as depicted in the lower left. The wine master in the yellow tunic gestures to the jars, as he admonishes the host for saving the good wine for last. The dumbstruck host, who knew there was no more wine, has discovered that Jesus miraculously transformed the water into wine. The figure wearing the crimson velvet hat with his hand on the host’s shoulder is probably the groom. The miracle inspired him to leave his bride a virgin and follow Christ as the apostle John.

Object facts

• Title: The Marriage at Cana (folio 58 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: 26.3 x 15.7 cm (10 3/8 x 6 3/16 in.); Image: 19.5 x 11.3 cm (7 11/16 x 4 7/16 in.)
• Collection: Indian Art
• Department: Indian and Southeast Asian Art
• Accession number: 2005.145.58.b

A detail from the museum

The halos surrounding Mary and Jesus distinguish them from other wedding attendants.

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.