Antique Persian Miniature Paintings
A pair of persian paintings on a sheet of paper from a book.
Unknown age , probably 18 -19 th.
A Persian miniature (Persian: نگارگری ایرانی negârgari irâni) is a small Persian painting on paper, be it a book illustration or a separate work of art intended to be kept in an album of such works called muraqqa. The techniques are broadly comparable to Western and Byzantine miniature traditions in illuminated manuscripts. Although there is an equally well-established Persian tradition of wall painting, the survival rate and state of conservation of miniatures is better, and miniatures are 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 an important genre in Persian art in the 13th century, receiving Chinese influence after the Mongol conquests, and the highest point of the tradition was reached in the 15th and 16th centuries.