A miniature is a small illustration used to decorate an ancient or medieval illuminated manuscript; the simple illustrations of the early codices having been miniated or delineated with that pigment.
Miniature of Sinon and the Trojan Horse, from the Vergilius Romanus, a manuscript of Virgil's Aeneid, early 5th century
Miniature of Abraham meeting angels, from the Cotton Genesis, 5th–6th century.
Miniature of seven physicians from the Vienna Dioscurides, early 6th century.
Miniature of the Annuciation to the Shepherds, from a Book of Hours (Milan, Biblioteca Trivulziana, Cod. 470).
Persian miniature
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A Persian miniature is a small Persian 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 broad
Miniature (illuminated manuscript)
…albums, which are also called miniatures, as the Western equivalents in watercolor and other media are not. These include Arabic miniatures, and their Persian, Mughal, Ottoman and other Indian offshoots. The earliest extant miniatures are a series of uncolored pen drawings in the Chronograph of 354, which was…
Yusuf and Zulaikha (Joseph chased by Potiphar's wife), by Behzād. Bustan of Sa'di, Herat, 1488, created for Timurid ruler Sultan Husayn Bayqara
Camp scene from late in the classic period, with no frame (c. 1556-1565), Freer Gallery of Art, Washington, D.C.; Majnun (at top wearing orange) spies on his beloved Layla (standing in tent doorway).
Saki, album miniature by Reza Abbasi, 1609
Nighttime in a City: urban activity in the Safavid capital of Tabriz, painted circa 1540 for Shah Tahmasp (Sackler Museum, 1958.76).