Ottoman miniature (Turkish: Osmanlı minyatürü) is a style of illustration found in Ottoman manuscripts, often depicting portraits or historic events. Its unique style was developed from multiple cultural influences, such as the Persian Miniature art, as well as Byzantine and Mongol art. 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. While Ottoman miniatures have been very much inspired by Persian miniatures, Ottoman artisans developed a unique style that separated themselves from their Persian influences. Ottoman miniatures are known specifically for their factual accounts of things such as military events, whereas Persian miniatures were more focused on being visually interesting. The inclusion of miniatures in Ottoman manuscripts was more for the purpose of documentation, and less about aesthetics. Miniatures were used to demonstrate many important chronicles and themes, especially historical and religious events. Ottoman miniatures are particularly known for their specific and accurate details. This can be found in many miniatures of armies or court scenes. Some Ottoman artists were more influenced by Persian miniatures than others. Ottoman miniatures with strong influences from the Persian style tended towards a more romanticized account of events, which strayed away from the more typical factual accounts of other Ottoman miniature paintings.
Original procedure
The head painter of the miniature typically designed the composition of the scene, and his apprentices drew the contours (which were called tahrir) with black or colored ink and then painted the miniature without making an illusion of third dimension. The head painter and the scribe of the text were named and depicted in some of the manuscripts, however the apprentices were not. In the thirteenth century, author portraits were very common in Islamic manuscripts. The portraits would depict the author of the manuscript as the largest figure, and would sometimes include other smaller figures that had contributed to the manuscript as well. At the end of the manuscript would be a colophon, which provided details about when the manuscript was completed and the author's name. The colors for the miniature were obtained by ground powder pigments mixed with egg-white and, later, with diluted gum arabic. The produced colors were vivid. Contrasting colors used side by side with warm colors further emphasized this quality. The most used colors in Ottoman miniatures were bright red, scarlet, green, and different shades of blue. The understanding of perspective was different from that of the nearby European Renaissance painting tradition. In many Islamic manuscripts, images depicted multiple perspectives, for example, both the inside and outside of a building could be displayed in one image. Additionally, miniature paintings were often used to articulate movement and time passing in a single image. Miniatures acted as illustrations to the text and utilized storytelling in their imagery which made them just as necessary as the text itself. The Ottoman miniature painting tradition was unique in that artists did not strive to depict their subjects realistically. Some scholars believe that this style of painting developed from shadow puppetry, on account of the sharp geometric edges, as well as the intricate architectural designs. Additionally, the lack of third-dimensional shading and constant use of empty space suggest that shadow theater played a role in the development of Ottoman miniature painting.
History and development
Early history
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