Medieval & Renaissance Manuscripts

Picture Bible
France, Paris, ca. 1244-1254
MS M.638 fol. 41r

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Zone 1:
David: instructing Joab, and David: Battle against Ammonites -- David, crowned, wearing vair-lined mantle, sits on bench with footstool, holds foliate scepter in left hand, and points with right hand. Messenger, wearing cap, kneels with spear in left hand and right hand raised.
To right, Joab, wearing visor and mail, mounted on caparisoned horse, with battle-axe in hands slays Ammonite, in mail, on horse collapsing. In background, Israelites and Ammonites, all in mail, some wearing visors, some mounted, engage in combat with swords, dagger, lance, and shields decorated with heraldry (one with rosettes). Illustration of II Samuel 10:7-14.
Zone 2:
David: Battle against Shobach -- David, crowned, wearing visor and mail, rides on caparisoned horse, with heraldic shield (azure, a lion rampant or) in left hand. With lance in right hand, he transfixes torso of Shobach, crowned, in mail, armed with heraldic shield and scabbard, falling from horse. Mounted soldiers, in mail, some wearing visors, engage in combat with swords, bannered lances, mace, falchion, axes, and shields, some heraldic; some soldiers are fallen. Illustration of II Samuel 10:16-18.
Scenes with architectural frames.