Decoys and body doubles, common in the pages of modern thrillers, go back thousands of years. At the center of these two scenes from the Crusader Bible, the young David—then serving as court musician to King Saul—escapes the king’s soldiers through a window and is reunited with the prophet Samuel. On the left, we see the mastermind of David’s escape: Michal, David's wife and the daughter of Saul. She shows the soldiers what appears to be her slumbering husband, but is actually a statue she has installed in his bed.
Crusader Bible, with added texts in Latin, Persian, and Judeo-Persian, France, Paris, ca. 1250., MS M.638, fol. 31r (det).; Purchased by J. P. Morgan in 1916.