King David, musicians and soldiers in the Vivian Bible, folio 215v

King David, musicians and soldiers in the Vivian Bible, BnF MS Latin 1, folio 215v

Details of the Cerethi and Phelethi portrayed as Carolingian soldiers to the sides of David in the Vivian Bible, BnF MS Latin 1, folio 215v

David playing a triangular psaltery with musicians Ethan, Iduthin, Asaph and Eman. The soldiers may represent Cerethi and Pelethi (Cerethi et Phelethi)

Date: Between 845 and 851
Bibliothèque nationale de France, MS Latin 1, folio 215v.

The First Bible of Charles the Bald (Paris, Bibliothèque Nationale, MS lat. 1) is a lavishly illuminated 9th-century manuscript Bible commissioned by Count Vivien, the lay abbot of St. Martin at Tours, and presented to Charles the Bald in 846 on a visit to the church. It is also known as the Count Vivian Bible or the Vivian Bible. It is 495 mm by 345 mm and has 423 vellum folios.

This is also understood to be the third illuminated Bible to have been made at Tours following the Bamburgh and Grandval Moutier bibles.

The Vivian Bible made in 845-846 at Tours is now in the Bibliothèque nationale de France.

Abbaye Saint-Martin de Tours. - Minuscule caroline très régulière, caractéristique du scriptorium de Saint-Martin de Tours.
Saint Martin of Tours Abbey. - Very regular carolina minuscule, characteristic of the scriptorium of St. Martin of Tours.

From the same manuscript: The Conversion of Saint Paul in the Vivian Bible, BnF MS Latin 1, folio 386v
Charles the Bald in the Vivian Bible, BnF MS Latin 1, folio 423r

See also:
David playing a harp and composing the Psalms, four Musicians and two scribes, in a Carolingian Psalter. Sens, Abbey of St Remi (?), France, c.842–850AD. BM Angers, MS 18.
David Composing the Psalms. Carolingian Psalter, Milan, Italy, late-10th century. Munich, Bayerische Staatsbibliothek, Clm. MS 343, folio 12v.
Carolingian Ivory Book Cover, David Composing the Psalms, end of the 10th-11th century. Louvre MR373.
David playing his harp, Ethan juggles knives & balls, musicians are Iduthin playing a fiddle and Asaph and Eman with trumpets, in the Tiberius Psalter, British Library Cotton Tiberius C VI, Winchester, England, c.1050.
David playing the harp, accompanied by bell, bagpipe, horn and bowed-string instruments. Polirone Psalter, Northern Italy, before 1086AD. Mantua, Biblioteca Comunale, ms. 340.
David playing a harp with musicians Ethan, Iduthin, Asaph and Eman, on the cover of the 'Melisende Psalter', Jerusalem, between 1131 and 1143.

Charles the Bald in the Saint Emmeram Gospels, Bayerische Staatsbibliothek, Cod. lat. 1400 folio 5v.
Carolingian Arms and Armor in the Ninth Century by Simon Coupland.