The Adoration of the Shepherds, from a Mirror of Holiness (Mir’at al-quds) of Father Jerome Xavier

Without reading the text, it would be difficult to identify the adorers as shepherds, because they are clothed as Portuguese merchants with ruffed collars and broad-brimmed hats. Mary stands with her divine newborn in a fenced enclosure, evocative of a sacred or royal space within a rather palatial setting, complete with pseudo-Ionic columns and heavy red draperies. The two books on the floor indicated to the Mughals that Christians, like Muslims, revere a definitive sacred scripture such as the Bible or the Koran.