{{Short description|Very small artworks}} {{About||other kinds of miniature art|Miniature painting (disambiguation)|model art (i.e. modeling for figure drawing)|Model (art)}}
[[File:Peter Carl Fabergé - Miniature Chair - 1966.454 - Cleveland Museum of Art.tif|thumb|Miniature chair; by Peter Carl Fabergé; made between 1896 and 1906; Gold, silver gilt, enamel over engine turned ground simulating brocaded textile, rubies and diamonds; overall: 10.5 x 5.3 x 4.8 cm; Cleveland Museum of Art (USA)]] [[File:Hamilton Pool 750p.jpg|thumb|Miniature oil painting of Hamilton Pool, Texas Hill Country; oil on 2.5 x 3.5 in. panel]] [[File:Tulbandvorm, spiraalvormig, BK-NM-5783-148.jpg|thumb|Miniature cooking shape; circa 1700-1799; copper; 1.8 × 3.7 cm; Rijksmuseum (Amsterdam, the Netherlands)]]{{Tone|date=May 2026}} '''Miniature art''' includes paintings, engravings and sculptures that are very small; it has a long history that dates back to prehistory. The portrait miniature is the most common form in recent centuries, and from ancient times, engraved gems, often used as impression seals, and cylinder seals in various materials were very important. For example most surviving examples of figurative art from the Indus Valley civilization and in Minoan art are very small seals. Gothic boxwood miniatures are very small carvings in wood, used for rosary beads and the like.
Western paintings in illuminated manuscripts 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. 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.{{citation needed|date=September 2012}}
Miniature art societies, such as the World Federation of Miniaturists (WFM) and Royal Miniature Society, provide applicable of the maximum size covered by the term.<ref>{{Cite web|title=Submitting Artwork|url=http://www.royal-miniature-society.org.uk/submitting.html#Bblto0U8|access-date=2020-11-29|website=www.royal-miniature-society.org.uk}}</ref> 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== {{Incomplete list|date=September 2024}}[[File:Three Courtyard House Model, Gallery of Chinese Architecture, Royal Ontario Museum, front.jpg|thumb|Ming dynasty glazed ceramic model of a courtyard]] Artists known for working in miniature include: *Reza Abbasi (Iran) *Bashir Ahmed (Pakistan) *Andreas Alariesto (Finland) *Nikolai Aldunin (Russia) *Chrysoula Argyros (South Africa) *Neşe Aybey (Turkey) *Christian Backer-Owe (Norway) *Hans Bol (the Netherlands) *Dina Brodsky (US) *Moshe Bromberg (Poland) *Abdullah Buhari (Turkey) *Edward Burch (UK) *Louie Burrell (UK) *Anna Maria Carew (UK) *Joan Carlile (UK) *Nihâl Chand (India) *Penelope Cleyn (UK) *Nusret Çolpan (Turkey) *Richard Cosway (UK) *Suzanne Crowley (US) *Jacques Daliwe (France) *Kurchi Dasgupta (India) *Saryu Doshi (India) *Miss Archibald Ramsay Douglas (UK) *Amy Drucker (UK) *Mahmoud Farshchian (Iran) *Sarah C. Frothingham (US) *Fernando García del Molino (Argentina) *Aman Singh Gulati (India) *Mabel Lee Hankey (UK) *Solomon Hart (UK) *Richard William Haynes (US) *Joris Hoefnagel (the Netherlands) *Gulshan Hossain (Bangladesh) *Margaret Hicks (US) *Jonty Hurwitz (UK, South Africa)<ref>{{cite web|url=http://phys.org/news/2014-11-science-art-nanosculpture-marvels.html |title=When science and art produce nanosculpture marvels |publisher=Phys.org, Nancy Owano |date= 18 Nov 2014}}</ref> *Anatoly Konenko (Russia) *Abdulcelil Levni (Turkey) *Karen Latham (US) *Ludwik Marteau (Poland) *Gábor Melegh (Austria) *Willard M. Mitchell (Canada) *Dust Muhammad (Safavid Era) *Mir Musavvir (Safavid Era) *Matrakçı Nasuh (Turkey) *Nakkaş Osman (Turkey) *Peter Paillou (UK) *Mallikarjuna Reddy (India) *Mir Sayyid Ali (Afghanistan) *Gopal Prasad Sharma (India) *Elisabeth Barbara Schmetterling (the Netherlands) *Hagop Sandaldjian (Egypt) *Varunika Saraf (India) *Henry Saxon (UK) *Suvigya Sharma (India) *Graham Short (UK) *Kostandin Shpataraku (Albania) *Nakkaş Sinan Bey (Turkey) *Pyotr Sokolov (Russia) *Gunasekaran Sundarraj (India) *Magda Szabo (Canada) *Waleria Tarnowska (Poland) *Sumaira Tazeen (Pakistan) *Mohamed Temam (Algeria) *Élisabeth Terroux (Switzerland) *John Thirtle (UK) *Henry Tanworth Wells (UK) *Willard Wigan (UK) * Members of the Royal Society of Miniature Painters, Sculptors and Gravers
== See also == {{div col|colwidth=20em}} * Scale model * Diorama * Room box * Dollhouse * Model building * Miniature faking * Portrait miniature * Miniature food * Model figure * Akan goldweights * Ottoman miniature * Artist trading cards * Netsuke * Mstyora miniature * Wasli * List of gold-glass portraits {{div col end}}
== References == {{reflist|3}}
==Further reading== * {{cite book|last=Burton|first=Sue|title=The Techniques of Painting Miniatures|year=1995|publisher=B.T. Batsford Ltd.|isbn=0-7134-7459-9|url=https://archive.org/details/techniquesofpain00sueb}} * {{cite book|last=Coombs|first=Katherine|title=The Portrait Miniature in England|year=1998|publisher=V&A Publications|isbn=1-85177-206-5}} * {{cite book|last=Foskett|first=Daphne|author-link=Daphne Foskett|title=Miniatures Dictionary and Guide|year=1987|publisher=The Antique Collectors' Club Ltd.|isbn=1-85149-063-9}} * {{cite book |last=Frank|first=Robin Jaffee|title=Love and Loss American Portrait and Mourning Miniatures|year=2000|publisher=Yale University Art Gallery|isbn=0-300-08724-1}} * {{cite video|people=Historic and Contemporary Miniature Artists|title=Timeless Treasures|medium=DVD|publisher=The Miniature Art Society of Florida|date=1994}} * {{cite book|last=Hughes|first=Johnson|title=How to Paint Miniatures|year=1994|publisher=Quintet Publishing Ltd.|isbn=0-7858-0029-8|url=https://archive.org/details/howtopaintminiat00eliz}} * {{cite book|last=Johnson|first=Dale T.|title=American Portrait Miniatures, In The Manney Collection|year=1990|publisher=The Metropolitan Museum of Art|isbn=0-87099-597-9}} * {{cite book|last=Livermann|first=Petryszak|title=Catalogue of the Miniature Collection|year=2000 |publisher=The Miniature Art Society of Florida}} * {{cite book|last=Mundy|first=Bill|title=Portrait Miniatures|year=2005|publisher=William P. Mundy|isbn=0-9550017-0-6}} * {{cite book|last=Murdoch|first=John|title=The English Miniature|year=1981|publisher=Yale University Press|isbn=0-300-02778-8|url-access=registration|url=https://archive.org/details/englishminiature0000unse}} * {{cite book|last=Phillips|first=Arturi|title=Dictionary of Miniature Painters 1870-1970|year=2012|publisher=Portrait Miniature Club|isbn=978-2-9536625-1-1}} * {{cite book|last=Reynolds|first=Graham|title=British Portrait Miniatures|year=1998|publisher=Cambridge University Press|isbn=0-521-59202-X}} * {{cite book|last=Siegrist|first=Wes|title=Modern Masters of Miniature Art in America|year=2010|publisher=Wes Siegrist|isbn=978-0-9821278-3-4}} * {{cite book|last=Willies|first=Joan Cornish|title=Miniature Painting|year=1995|publisher=Watson-Guptill Publications|isbn=0-8230-2979-4}} * {{cite book|last=Wood|first=Elizabeth Davies|title=Painting Miniatures|year=1989|publisher=A&C Black Ltd.|isbn=0-8230-3717-7}}
{{Scale model}} {{Authority control}}
{{DEFAULTSORT:Miniature Art}} Category:Visual arts genres