Themes > Arts > Painting > Islamic Painting Art > Miniature Painting > Fatimids

In the middle of the 10th century a new influence came, this time from the West, with the Fatimids, a family of Persian origin. Fragments of papyri bearing pictures unearthed from the rubbish dumps at Fostat are evidence of early Fatimid patronage of manuscript illuminations. These Moslem artists excelled in calligraphy and text embellishment. The earlier illuminations accompanied translations of Greek scientific works into Arabic. These miniatures were painted in brilliant colors, sometimes against backgrounds of gold. Naturalistic treatment of animals was favored along with an elaboration of intricate design.

Bowl Painted in polychrome "minai" with gilding
 Persian (Kashan?) Late 12th Century




This man and woman is painted in a formal style that had developed in pre-Islamic Persia which tended toward the stylized and symbolic rather than the realistic. The face was characteristically round, with thick features and enormous, slanting eyes; the hair was black and straight, falling to the shoulders, and the body was fleshy.

Illustration from the Manafi' al-Hayawan by Ibn Bakhtishu', Persian, 1295.
An account of many beasts and the medicines that could be extracted from them was compiled in the 11th Century by a physician to the Caliph in Baghdad, and two centuries later was translated from Arabic into Persian and illustrated with 94 charming miniatures. From the comparative simplicity of these earlier Arabic manuscripts, miniature painting in Persia ultimately developed into a very sophisticated art in which figures in court scenes, hunts and battles move against ornate, panoramic backgrounds. These illustrated secular books became known as the Persian Miniatures.

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