Medieval & Renaissance Manuscripts

Bible Historiale
France, Paris, ca. 1415
MS M.394 fol. 199r

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Daniel: Fraud of Bel's Priests -- Two groups of three men flank idol of Bel on column. At left, man, wearing hat, holding and heaving stone with right hand, stands beside man holding club toward the idol, and behind tonsured man kneeling with joined hands raised. At right, Cyrus the Great, wearing crown and ermine-lined mantle, holding star-inscribed scimitar, stands behind tonsured man, kneeling with joined hands raised, bleeding from head, beside man, wearing hat, with purse at waist, holding and heaving stone. Scene with diapered background.
In upper, lower, and left margins, ivy-rinceaux foliate decoration.
Illustration of OT Apocrypha, Bel and Dragon 11-20 (Vulg., Daniel 14).