Editing Miniature (illuminated manuscript) (section)

===India===
{{main|Indian miniature paintings|Mughal painting|Deccan painting}}
[[File:MET DP238217.jpg|thumb|400px|Bengal Folio Painting, early 12th century.]]
Under the patronage of [[Pala Empire|Pala Dynasty]] miniature painting was introduced in India by painting on Buddhist [[Palm-leaf manuscript|palm leaf manuscripts]]. One of the earliest surviving examples of Buddhist illustrated palm leaf manuscripts is [[Aṣṭasāhasrikā Prajñāpāramitā]] dated to 985 AD preserved in the University of Cambridge library.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://cudl.lib.cam.ac.uk/view/MS-ADD-01464/5|title=Sanskrit Manuscripts : Prajñāpāramitāstotra, Aṣṭasāhasrikā Prajñāpāramitā|website=Cambridge Digital Library|access-date=2018-06-02}}</ref> The art of Pala illuminated manuscripts developed in Buddhist centers of [[Nalanda|Bihar]] and [[Somapura Mahavihara|Bengal]]. The Pala miniature paintings not only inspired Nepalese and Tibetan miniature paintings but also inspired Hinduism and Jainism to develop their own miniature painting traditions in later periods.<ref>{{Cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=FTVD4FtUHp0C&q=pala+illuminated+manuscripts&pg=PA115|title=Art of Tibet: A Catalogue of the Los Angeles County Museum of Art Collection|last1=Art|first1=Los Angeles County Museum of|last2=Pal|first2=Pratapaditya|last3=Richardson|first3=Hugh|date=1983|publisher=University of California Press|isbn=9780875871127|language=en}}</ref>

[[File:Emperor Jahangir receiving his two sons, an album-painting in gouache on paper, c 1605-06.jpg|thumb|The Emperor [[Jahangir]] receiving his two sons, an album-painting of c 1605-06]]

Mughal painting developed during the period of the [[Mughal Empire]] (16th - 18th centuries) and was generally confined to miniatures either as book illustrations or as single works to be kept in albums. It emerged from the Persian miniature painting tradition introduced to India by [[Mir Sayyid Ali]] and [[Abd al-Samad]] in the mid 16th century.  It soon moved away from its [[Safavid art|Safavid origins]]; with the influence of Hindu artists, colors became brighter and compositions more naturalistic. The subject matter was predominantly secular, mainly consisting of illustrations to works of literature or history, portraits of court members and studies of nature. At its height the Mughal painting style represented an elegant marriage of Persian, European, and Hindi art.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.metmuseum.org/toah/hd/mugh/hd_mugh.htm|title=The Art of the Mughals before 1600 {{!}} Essay {{!}} Heilbrunn Timeline of Art History {{!}} The Metropolitan Museum of Art|author=Department of Islamic Art|website=The Met's Heilbrunn Timeline of Art History|language=en|access-date=2018-02-02}}</ref>

In the Muslim [[Deccan sultanates]] miniature painting styles emerged with influence direct from Persia, and with some from existing Hindu painting. The [[Deccan painting]] style was freer and more extravagant than Mughal painting, if not as consistent in quality or naturalism.  As the Mughals conquered the sultanates over the 17th century, the artists dispersed.  A version of the Mughal style spread to princely courts, mostly Hindu, in North India, especially in [[Rajput painting]], where several different styles developed. [[Pahari painting]] covers a number of small courts in the foothills of the Himalayas, and the [[Bikaner style of painting|Bikaner style]] came from further south.  By the 18th century the Rajput courts were producing the most innovative Indian painting.