Editing Miniature (illuminated manuscript) (section)

{{short description|Picture in an ancient or medieval illuminated manuscript}}
[[File:RomanVirgilFolio101r.jpg|thumb|300px|Miniature of [[Sinon]] and the [[Trojan Horse]], from the [[Vergilius Romanus]], a manuscript of [[Virgil]]'s ''[[Aeneid]]'', early 5th century]]

A '''miniature''' (from the [[Latin]] verb {{lang|la|miniare}} 'to colour with [[Minium (pigment)|minium]]', a [[red lead]]<ref>{{cite journal|last=Wedgwood|first=Hensleigh|author-link=Hensleigh Wedgwood|title=On False Etymologies|journal=Transactions of the Philological Society|url=https://babel.hathitrust.org/cgi/pt?id=uc1.b3924121;view=1up;seq=80|year=1855|issue=6|pages=70}}</ref>) is a small illustration used to decorate an [[ancient history|ancient]] or [[medieval]] [[illuminated manuscript]]; the simple illustrations of the early [[codex|codices]] having been miniated or delineated with that [[pigment]]. The generally small scale of such medieval pictures has led to [[etymological]] confusion with minuteness and to its application to small paintings, especially [[portrait miniature]]s,<ref name=EB1911>{{EB1911 |wstitle=Miniature |volume=18 |pages=523–528 |first=George Charles |last=Williamson |inline=1}}</ref> which did however grow from the same tradition and at least initially used similar techniques.

Apart from the Western, [[Byzantine art|Byzantine]] and [[Armenian illuminated manuscripts|Armenian]]<ref>Emma Korkhmazian, Gravard Akopian, Irina Drampian, ''The Armenian Miniature — Collection of the Matenadaran (Yerevan)'', Art Edition Aurora, Léningrad, 1984, p.7.</ref> traditions, there is another group of Asian traditions, which is generally more illustrative in nature, and from origins in manuscript book decoration also developed into single-sheet small paintings to be kept in albums, which are also called miniatures, as the Western equivalents in [[Watercolor painting|watercolor]] and other media are not. These include [[Arabic miniature|Arabic miniatures]], and their [[Persian miniature|Persian]], [[Mughal painting|Mughal]], [[Ottoman miniature|Ottoman]] and other [[Indian miniature painting|Indian offshoots]].