The Flowering of Joseph’s Rod (folio 11 verso), from a Mirror of Holiness (Mir’at al-quds) of Father Jerome Xavier

From the Cleveland Museum of Art record

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. 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.