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David and Goliath
Byzantine Psalter, 12th century. British Library Add MS 40753, folio 145v


A larger image of David and Goliath in a Byzantine Psalter, 12th century. British Library Add MS 40753, folio 145v

Add MS 40753
Date: 2nd half of the 12th century
Title: Psalter and Canticles
Content: Psalter and Canticles.
Add MS 40753, ff 1r-146r Psalms.
Add MS 40753, ff 146v-163v Canticles.
Languages: Greek, Ancient
Physical Description
Material: Parchment.
Foliation: ff 163.
Dimensions: 90 x 65 mm.
Ruling: 55 x 55 mm, 21 lines per page (Leroy 32D1).
Decoration: Twelve full-page miniatures, mostly much rubbed: (1) David playing the lyre, f 1v; (2) David doing penance before Nathan, f 49v; (3) Moses teaching the Israelites the Law, f 75v; (4) David killing Goliath and cutting off his head, f 145v; (5) Miriam dancing between two maidens, f. 146v; (6) Moses, f 148v; (7) Hannah, the mother of Samuel, praying, f 152v; (8) The Three Children in the furnace sheltered by an angel, f 153v; (9) The Prophet Habakkuk, f 155v; (10) Isaiah praying, f 157v; (11) Jonah cast forth by the whale, f 159v; (12) The Theotokos praying, f 163v. The residue of a miniature can be seen on the stub attached to f 158.
Decorative headpieces on ff 2r, and 76r, and a tailpiece on f 144v.

Ownership:
Palestine or Cyprus, given the script (Canart (1981)) and illumination (Carr (1987)). Probably created in the second half of the 12th century: Carr (1987), Lowden (1988). A member of the '2400 family' of illuminated Byzantine manuscripts.
Provenance:
Three independent inscriptions in 13th-century hands on f 1r:i) ἄννης κομνήνηςii) ἐγενίθοι ὁ δουλος του Χριστου ονης ο τοῦ αυτου αδελ(φος) μηνι δεκεμβρίω εν τη υμερα τριτοι ορα ἔτους ςψκβ΄. (i.e. 1213).iii) ο Δαβιδ. Purchased of Mr H. Bagge, 9 June 1923.
British Library Add MS 40753