Cleveland Museum of Art

Angels bring food to Jesus in the wilderness (folio 55 recto), from a Mirror of Holiness (Mir’at al-quds) of Father Jerome Xavier

Muhammad Sharif

Date

1602–4

Medium

Gum tempera, ink, color, and gold on paper

Culture

Mughal India, Allahabad, made for Prince Salim (1569–1627)

Department

Indian and Southeast Asian Art

Institution

Cleveland Museum of Art

To end his 40-day fast, five angels brought Jesus refreshments from heaven: breads, melons each with a knife for convenient cutting, fresh leeks, and what appear to be fragrant rice dishes and curries, along with cups of wine. Four of the angels are dressed in robes, and one is clothed only in feathers. After his baptism, Jesus spent 40 days and nights in the desert where he fasted, practiced spiritual exercises, and successfully resisted the temptations of Satan. Many of the rocks in this painting have faces, called grotesques. This page is the only surviving folio from this manuscript that has an artist’s signature, written in the tiny pot by Jesus’s foot. The artist has put faces in the rocks, following a Persian convention.

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