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MUGHAL INDIA, CIRCA 1602 Opaque pigments heightened with gold on paper, within gold rules, Herod sits on a raised dias as before him the executioner presents Salome with the head of John the Baptist, laid down on buff borders, mounted on card, some losses to pigments Painting 5 7/8 x 3 1/8in. (15 x 7.8cm.); folio 10 x 6 1/8in. (25.4 x 15.6cm.)
This painting is from a manuscript of the Dastan-i Masih or ‘the Story of Christ’ (also knows as the Mir’at al-Quds or ‘Mirror of Holiness’) which was composed by the Jesuit missionary Father Jerome Xavier (1549-1617) at the request of the Emperor Akbar (r.1556-1605). Akbar is well-known for his interest in other faiths and Father Jerome led the third Jesuit mission to the court of Akbar following a specific request from the Emperor. He arrived in Lahore in May 1595 having spent the previous year mastering Persian. He used his linguistic abilities to compose a ‘Story of Christ’, recounting the life of Jesus and the deeds ascribed to him by popular legend of the time. The text was formally presented to Akbar in 1602. Father Jerome remarked that copies of the text were already being made before it had been presented to the Emperor.
Three illustrated versions of the texts were produced in rapid succession between 1602-1605. One is in the Lahore Museum (inv.M-645), another in the Cleveland Museum of Art (acc.no.2005.145) and the third is that from which our folio comes – thought to have produced after the Lahore copy and before the Cleveland one. The text block of our manuscript sold in these Rooms, 9 October 2014, lot 142. For the depiction of the same scene as that offered here in the Cleveland manuscript, see Carvalho, 2012, cat.no.XXIII, pp.120-121). Carvalho writes that the story of John the Baptist’s death has a dramatic and moralistic tone that seems to have appealed to the Mughal mind. Another rendition of the same scene is found on a limestone carving, circa 1600, which was perhaps reproduced from a European plaquette and is now in a private collection (Carvalho, 2008, cat.no.7, pp.42-43). As on both our miniature and the Cleveland one, Salome’s profile is distinctly Mughal whilst others are depicted in a more European fashion.
Other paintings from our manuscript are in the Victoria and Albert Museum (170-1950) and the British Museum (1965 7-24 05). Another, depicting the Crucifixion, sold in these Rooms, 10 October 2013, lot 167. For a full list of the known paintings, please contact the department.
