The Persian Miniature Painting

A Persian miniature keeps bright mineral colours for many centuries.

Persian miniatures are small paintings on highly polished paper pages.

Silver pigment used for water oxidizes to rough black over time.

Miniature painting became a significant genre in the 13th century.

Artists received Chinese influence after the Mongol conquests arrived.

Faces appear youthful, plump, and viewed from three-quarters angle.

Lighting stays even across the page without any shadows at all.

Buildings mix interior cutaway views with exterior facade angles together.

Horses in Persian miniatures are mostly shown sideways on.

Shah Tahmasp's Shahnameh stood 47 centimetres high as a luxury manuscript.

Workshop painters divided tasks between outlining figures and colouring them.

One report tracked 25 named artists working over a week.

Later collectors assembled single miniatures into albums called muraqqa.

Mani illustrated his own sacred book, the Arzhang, himself.