Miniature art includes paintings, engravings and sculptures that are very small; it has a long history that dates back to prehistory. The
portrait miniature
A portrait miniature is a miniature portrait painting, usually executed in gouache, watercolor, or enamel. Portrait miniatures developed out of the techniques of the miniatures in illuminated manuscripts, and were popular among 16th-century eli ...
is the most common form in recent centuries, and from ancient times,
engraved gem
An engraved gem, frequently referred to as an intaglio, is a small and usually semi-precious gemstone that has been carved, in the Western tradition normally with images or inscriptions only on one face. The engraving of gemstones was a major lux ...
s, often used as
impression seals, and
cylinder seal
A cylinder seal is a small round cylinder, typically about one inch (2 to 3 cm) in length, engraved with written characters or figurative scenes or both, used in ancient times to roll an impression onto a two-dimensional surface, generally ...
s in various materials were very important. For example most surviving examples of figurative art from the
Indus Valley civilization
The Indus Valley Civilisation (IVC), also known as the Indus Civilisation was a Bronze Age civilisation in the northwestern regions of South Asia, lasting from 3300 BCE to 1300 BCE, and in its mature form 2600 BCE to 1900& ...
and in
Minoan art are very small seals.
Gothic boxwood miniatures are very small carvings in wood, used for
rosary
The Rosary (; la, , in the sense of "crown of roses" or "garland of roses"), also known as the Dominican Rosary, or simply the Rosary, refers to a set of prayers used primarily in the Catholic Church, and to the physical string of knots or ...
beads and the like.
Western paintings in
illuminated manuscript
An illuminated manuscript is a formally prepared document where the text is often supplemented with flourishes such as borders and miniature illustrations. Often used in the Roman Catholic Church for prayers, liturgical services and psalms, th ...
s are known as
miniatures, even if not very small - this sense of the word in fact has a different derivation, from a Latin word for a reddish
pigment
A pigment is a colored material that is completely or nearly insoluble in water. In contrast, dyes are typically soluble, at least at some stage in their use. Generally dyes are often organic compounds whereas pigments are often inorganic compou ...
.
Miniature art has been made for over 2500 years and is prized by collectors. Museums around the world have collections of miniature paintings, drawings, original prints and etchings, and sculpture.
Miniature art societies, such as the World Federation of Miniaturists (WFM) and
Royal Miniature Society
The Royal Society of Miniature Painters, Sculptors and Gravers, more commonly known as the Royal Miniature Society (RMS), is an art society founded in 1895 dedicated to upholding and continuing the tradition of miniature painting and sculpture, ...
, provide applicable of the maximum size covered by the term. An often-used definition is that a piece of miniature art can be held in the palm of the hand, or that it covers less than 25 square inches or 100 cm². Some exhibits require the subjects to be depicted in 1/6 actual size, and in all paintings the spirit of miniaturisation should be maintained.
Collecting
Miniature Art Societies hold annual shows around the world. The Miniature Painters, Sculptors & Gravers Society of Washington, DC, is the oldest miniature art society in the USA.
The Miniature Art Society of Florida is possibly one of the largest miniature art shows in the USA. Galleries such as
Seaside Art Gallery, The Snowgoose Gallery, and the Ciders Painters of America also hold annual exhibitions where visitors are invited to view the paintings and sculptures under magnifying lenses.
Artists of the miniature art genre
Artists known for working in miniature include:
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Gopal prasad sharma (India)
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Aman Singh Gulati (India)
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Margaret Hicks (US)
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Mahmoud Farshchian
Mahmoud Farshchian ( fa, محمود فرشچیان, translit=Mahmud Faršciyân; born 24 January 1930) is an Iranian painter and educator. He was a master of Persian miniature painting.
His paintings have been hosted by several museums and exhibi ...
(Iran)
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Jonty Hurwitz (UK, South Africa)
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Debra Keirce
Debra is a feminine given name.
Debra may refer to:
People
* Debra Adelaide (born 1958), Australian writer
* Debra Allbery (born 1957), American poet
* Debra R. Anderson (1949-2022), American politician
* Debra Austin (born 1955), American ba ...
(US)
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Karen Latham
Karen Latham is an American painter, residing in Hastings, Minnesota.[Karen ...](_blank)
(US)
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Willard M. Mitchell (Canada)
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Henry Saxon
Henry Saxon (16 August 19183 October 2005) was an artist specialising in miniatures. His paintings typically comprised verse or biblical text set in fine borders with one or more inset illustrative pictures.
History
Henry Saxon was born in Ash ...
(UK)
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Suvigya Sharma
Suvigya Sharma (born 28 July 1983) is an Indian artist, painter, fashion designer, who does miniature paintings, Tanjore painting, fresco work and portraits. He has worked in restoring fresco painting at City Palace at Jaipur, Jama Masjid an ...
(India)
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Magda Szabo
Magda Szabo (born July 8, 1934) is a Canadian miniaturist.
Early life
Magda Szabo was born in Budapest, Hungary. She started painting early, using oil as her medium, on large canvas.
Career
Her miniature painting career started in the lat ...
(Canada)
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Narcissa Niblack Thorne
Narcissa Niblack Thorne (May 2, 1882 – June 25, 1966) was an American artist known for her extremely detailed miniature rooms. Her works depict historical interiors from Europe, Asia and North America from the late 13th to the early 20th ce ...
(US)
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Bashir Ahmed (Pakistan)
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Joris Hoefnagel
Joris Hoefnagel or Georg Hoefnagel (1542, in Antwerp – 24 July 1601, in Vienna) was a Flemish painter, printmaker, miniaturist, draftsman and merchant. He is noted for his illustrations of natural history subjects, topographical views, ...
(the Netherlands)
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Ludwik Marteau (Poland)
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Fernando García del Molino (Argentina)
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Miss Archibald Ramsay Douglas (UK)
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Penelope Cleyn (UK)
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Nihâl Chand (India)
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Joan Carlile
Joan Carlile or Carlell or Carliell (c. 1606–1679), was an English portrait painter. She was one of the first British women known to practise painting professionally. Before Carlile, known professional female painters working in Britain were ...
(UK)
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Anna Maria Carew (UK)
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Moshe Bromberg
Moshe Bromberg (Moshe Bar-Am) (1920–1982) was a notable artist and sculptor.
Bromberg was born in Piotrków Trybunalski, near Łódź, Poland in December 1920. He was studying art in Kraków when the Second World War broke out. He and his broth ...
(Poland)
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Mir Musavvir (
Safavid
Safavid Iran or Safavid Persia (), also referred to as the Safavid Empire, '. was one of the greatest Iranian empires after the 7th-century Muslim conquest of Persia, which was ruled from 1501 to 1736 by the Safavid dynasty. It is often conside ...
Era)
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Christian Backer-Owe (Norway)
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Dust Muhammad
Dust Muhammad (or Doust Muhammad) was a Persian painter of miniatures, calligrapher, and art historian, active from about 1510 to 1564. Later in life he worked in India.
Early career
Dust Muhammad was born in Herat in the late 15th century, alth ...
(
Safavid
Safavid Iran or Safavid Persia (), also referred to as the Safavid Empire, '. was one of the greatest Iranian empires after the 7th-century Muslim conquest of Persia, which was ruled from 1501 to 1736 by the Safavid dynasty. It is often conside ...
Era)
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Peter Paillou (UK)
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Pyotr Sokolov (Russia)
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Gunasekaran Sundarraj (India)
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Mohamed Temam (Algeria)
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Élisabeth Terroux (Switzerland)
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Henry Tanworth Wells (UK)
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Abdullah Buhari (Turkey)
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Nakkaş Sinan Bey (Turkey)
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Abdulcelil Levni
Levnî Abdülcelil Çelebi (1680s–1732) was an early 18th century Ottoman court painter under the Sultans Mustafa II and Ahmed III. He was a prominent Ottoman miniaturist during the Tulip Period, well-regarded for his traditional yet innovative ...
(Turkey)
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Nakkaş Osman (Turkey)
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Matrakçı Nasuh (Turkey)
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Mir Sayyid Ali (Afghanistan)
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Nusret Çolpan (Turkey)
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Mallikarjuna Reddy (India)
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Nikolai Aldunin (Russia)
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Anatoly Konenko (Russia)
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Hagop Sandaldjian
Hagop Sandaldjian (1931–1990Joshua Tompkins"Honey I Shrunk the Art" ''Los Angeles Magazine'', May 1997, p.24.) was an Egyptian-born Armenian American musician and microminiature sculptor, best known for his tiny art pieces, currently displayed a ...
(Egypt)
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Rina Vellichor (Russia)
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Graham Short (UK)
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Willard Wigan
Willard Wigan, (born June 1957) is a British sculptor from Ashmore Park Estate, Wednesfield, England, the son of Jamaican immigrants, who makes micro miniature sculptures. His sculptures are typically placed in the eye of a needle or on the hea ...
(UK)
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Reza Abbasi (Iran)
* Members of the
Royal Society of Miniature Painters, Sculptors and Gravers
The Royal Society of Miniature Painters, Sculptors and Gravers, more commonly known as the Royal Miniature Society (RMS), is an art society founded in 1895 dedicated to upholding and continuing the tradition of miniature painting and sculpture, ...
See also
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Scale model
A scale model is a physical model which is geometrically similar to an object (known as the prototype). Scale models are generally smaller than large prototypes such as vehicles, buildings, or people; but may be larger than small prototypes ...
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Diorama
A diorama is a replica of a scene, typically a three-dimensional full-size or miniature model, sometimes enclosed in a glass showcase for a museum. Dioramas are often built by hobbyists as part of related hobbies such as military vehicle mode ...
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Room box
A room box is a display box used for three-dimensional miniature scale environments, or scale models. Although the name would suggest room boxes generally only represent typical rooms such as those found in houses or other buildings (bedrooms, k ...
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Dollhouse
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Model building
Model building is a hobby and career that involves the creation of physical models either from kits or from materials and components acquired by the builder. The kits contain several pieces that need to be assembled in order to make a final mod ...
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Miniature faking
Miniature faking, also known as diorama effect or diorama illusion, is a process in which a photograph of a life-size location or object is made to look like a photograph of a miniature scale model. Blurring parts of the photo simulates the shal ...
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Portrait miniature
A portrait miniature is a miniature portrait painting, usually executed in gouache, watercolor, or enamel. Portrait miniatures developed out of the techniques of the miniatures in illuminated manuscripts, and were popular among 16th-century eli ...
*
Model figure
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Akan goldweights
Akan goldweights (locally known as mrammou) are weights made of brass used as a measuring system by the Akan people of West Africa, particularly for wei and fair-trade arrangements with one another. The status of a man increased significantly if h ...
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Ottoman miniature
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Artist trading cards
Artist trading cards (ATCs) is a conceptual art project initiated by the Swiss artist M. Vänçi Stirnemann in 1997. He called it a ''Collaborative Cultural Performance''. Artist trading cards are 2.5 by 3.5 inches in size, the same format as mod ...
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Netsuke
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Mstyora miniature
Mstyora (or Mstera) miniature (russian: Мстёрская миниатюра) is a Russian folk handicraft of miniature painting, which is done with tempera paints on varnished articles mostly made of papier-mâché.
Mstyora miniatures appeared ...
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Wasli The World Association of Sign Language Interpreters (WASLI) is an international organization aimed at the promotion of the profession of sign language interpretation.
WASLI was established 23 July 2003 during the 14th World Congress of the World F ...
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List of gold-glass portraits
This is a list of surviving ancient Roman gold glass portraits of the finer painted sort. The majority of surviving Roman gold glass pieces are the cut-off bottoms of drinking glasses made with unpainted gold leaf. These sometimes bear the names ...
References
Further reading
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{{DEFAULTSORT:Miniature Art
Visual arts genres