Small size pictures created by engraving a story or event on paper in two dimensions are called Miniature. It's a two-dimensional artwork that involves the design and creation of small paintings on books, textiles, walls, ceramics and other items using raw materials such as gold, silver and various organic substances. Miniature, which developed as book painting art, does not look out for principles such as anatomy, depth, light and shadow and lacks perspective and dimensioning. The miniature displays a specific type of perspective in which the size of the figures changes according to their importance - a key difference from realistic and naturalistic styles. Miniatures focused on topics such as ceremonies, festivals or weddings.
Oldest examples of the Turkish miniature art, found at archives of Topkapi Palace, include miniatures dating back to the 8th and 9th centuries before Turks adopted Islam. During the Ottoman Empire, miniature art was referred to as embroidery or depiction in its early days. Turkish miniature art differentiated from miniature art of other Islamic countries. It bridged the gap of depiction and story caused by the fact that three dimensional painting is disapproved in Islam.
Ottoman miniature (Minyatür in turkish) was a Turkish art form in the Ottoman Empire, which can be linked to the Persian miniature tradition, as well as strong Chinese artistic influences. It was a part of the Ottoman book arts, together with illumination (tezhip), calligraphy (hat), marbling paper (ebru), and bookbinding (cilt). The words taswir or nakish were used to define the art of miniature painting in Ottoman Turkish. The studios the artists worked in were called Nakkashane. The miniatures were usually not signed.
The reigns of Suleyman the Magnificent and Selim II in the second half of the 16th century were the golden age of the Ottoman miniature. After Levni, the last great representative of Ottoman miniature art in the 18th century, due to Westernization, the introduction of printing press and later photography, no more illuminated picture manuscripts were produced. From then on, wall paintings or oil paintings were popular and the miniature painting lost its function.
In 2020, the "Miniature Art" was registered to UNESCO Representative List of the Intangible Cultural Heritage of Humanity on behalf of Turkey, Azerbaijan, Iran and Uzbekistan.