Miniature art

Miniature art is a genre that focuses on art (especially painting, engraving and sculpture) in much-smaller-than-usual sizes. Miniature art societies, such as the World Federation of Miniaturists (WFM), provide applicable definitions of the term. An often-used definition is that a piece of miniature art is capable of being held in the palm of the hand, or that it covers less than 100 cm².
Miniature art has been made for over 1000 years and is prized by collectors. The US White House and the Smithsonian American Art Museum have collections of miniature art, and there is an American Museum of the Miniature Arts in the US state of Texas.


Persian miniature

A Persian miniature is a small painting on paper, whether a book illustration or a separate work of art intended to be kept in an album of such works called a muraqqa. The techniques are broadly comparable to the Western and Byzantine traditions of miniatures in illuminated manuscripts. Although there is an equally well-established Persian tradition of wall-painting, the survival rate and state of preservation of miniatures is better, and miniatures are much the best-known form of Persian painting in the West, and many of the most important examples are in Western, or Turkish, museums. Miniature painting became a significant Persian genre in the 13th century, receiving Chinese influence after the Mongol conquests, and the highest point in the tradition was reached in the 15th and 16th centuries. The tradition continued, under some Western influence, after this, and has many modern exponents. The Persian miniature was the dominant influence on other Islamic miniature traditions, principally the Ottoman miniature in Turkey, and the Mughal miniature in the Indian sub-continent.