Mir Sayyid Ali was a Persian miniature painter who was a leading artist of Persian miniatures before working under the Mughal dynasty in India, where he became one of the artists responsible for developing the style of Mughal painting, under Emperor Akbar.
Self-portrait by Mir Sayyid Ali, Los Angeles County Museum of Art, 1550
Miniature from Layla and Majnun (c. 1540)
Mir Sayyid Ali, the prophet Elias (Elijah) rescuing Prince Nur ad-Dahr from drowning in a river, from the Akbar Hamzanama
A Prince and Page (c. 1540) British Museum
Miniature (illuminated manuscript)
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. The generally small scale of such medieval pictures has led to etymological confusion with minuteness and to its application to small paintings, especially portrait miniatures, which did however grow from the same tradition and at least initially used similar techniques.
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.
Ejmiadzin Gospel, 6th-7th centuries
