Muraqqa in the context of "Ottoman miniature"

A Persian miniature (Persian: نگارگری ایرانی, romanized: negârgari-ye Irâni) 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 broadly comparable to the Western Medieval 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 genre in Persian art 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 subcontinent.

Islamic miniatures are small paintings on paper, usually book or manuscript illustrations but also sometimes separate artworks, intended for muraqqa albums. The earliest examples date from around 1000, with a flourishing of the artform from around 1200. The field is divided by scholars into four types, Arabic, Persian, Mughal (Indian), Ottoman (Turkish).

As in the art history of Europe, "miniature" is generally reserved for images including people, with abstract or geometrical decorative schemes on the pages of books called "illumination". These are much more common, and less sensitive, often found in grand copies of the Quran, as for example in Ottoman illumination.

Saz style (Turk. saz yolu) is a style of vegetal ornament and an associated art style from the 16th-century Ottoman Empire.

Mughal painting is a style of miniature painting, used as either book illustrations or as single works to be kept in albums (muraqqa), which originated during the Mughal period in the Indian subcontinent. It emerged from Persian miniature painting (itself partly of Chinese origin) and developed in the court of the Mughal Empire from the 16th to 18th centuries. Battles, legendary stories, hunting scenes, wildlife, royal life, mythology, as well as other subjects have all been frequently depicted in paintings.

The Mughal emperors were Muslims and they are credited with consolidating Islam in the subcontinent, and spreading Islamic (and particularly Persian) art and culture as well as the faith.

Turkish or Ottoman illumination refers to non-figurative painted or drawn decorative art found in manuscripts or on sheets in muraqqa. In Turkish it is called “tezhip”, meaning “ornamenting with gold”. The Classical Islamic style of manuscript illumination combines techniques from Turkish, Persian, and Arabic traditions. Illumination was central to the traditional arts of the Ottoman Turks, who developed a style of illumination distinct from earlier traditions.

Manuscript illustration, such as the painting of the Ottoman miniature (taswir), was a distinct process from manuscript illumination, and each process was thus carried out by an artist specially trained in that particular craft.