1. Miniature is derived from the term " minimum" meaning tiny and small.

2. Miniature is derived from the term " minum" which introduces a special type of red color. This is called so ,because long age in the western countries books were decorated with a mixture of  "Shengerf" and "Minum". Then the term "Miniature" became common for all kinds of drawing and It was popularized in Iran and took the place of the word "drawing" by those who were interested in onintal pictorial books and were also seeking to find these types of drawing .
Today the drawing in books and even the great feats drawn on walls which were created in this specific way are called Miniature. Further more this term i.e. Miniature can be seen in any book written in recent years about Iranian ,Turkish and Hindu drawings.

Iranian Miniature is a specific imaginative ,romantic ,beautiful ,delicate , nice and attractive art. The basis and foundation of Iranian Miniature is placed on the laws and principles of creation which make up the foundation of any creature .Therefore a miniaturist draws the design of any object on the basis of his understanding of the object, not on its superficial impression. so ,it is the knowledge and imagination which make a miniature an entity and not the observation of the nature.

The superficial appearance of objects is not the concern of Iranian miniaturists. He follows the knowledge of the rule of objects ,for example a car will be in its original size if it is observed from a close distance ,however if it is looked at from a farther distance it will looked smaller than its original size. This rule is in accordance to the law of landscape and the effects of the eye's gleam ;it is not according to the rule of knowledge and imagination because there is not any law of landscape in miniature ,so it has been avoided  to make remote objects smaller than closer ones ,and since miniaturist creates any objects on the basis of his imagination and knowledge and there is not any landscape for knowledge and imagination ;hence any object  which is located in a closer distance will have the same size as the one situated in a farther point. There is no closeness and remoteness for knowledge. Any object is envisaged with its original size whether it be in near or far distance .Another characteristic of miniature is that miniaturist shows the form and figure of any object with lines and not with shades and that these lines have diameter.These lines are sharp and dull Due to these sharp and lines any observer feels that the object is voluminous. If these lines are of equal size ,One will see the object as a flat shape without any volume and diameter .Unfortunately since the ancient times ,it has been thought that Iranian have learned drawing from the chinese .This wrong  attitude caused many untrue opinions to be expressed about the Iranian drawings .After the discovery of caves in Iran such as mirmilas cave with many drawing on their walls ,the history of drawing in Iran received its due position in the ancient history of mankind. If the history of drawing in Iran is not older than Spain ,surely it is not newer either .There are evidence at hand which show that rich wonderful wall drawings have been common in Iran since the era of Hakhamaneshis.

In these evidences ,an old literature has been quoted in which kares mitileni ,the chief of alexander's ceremonial activities in Iran's court has said that at the time of Hakhamaneshies ,an amorous poetbook by the name of rozeya and Ooda was popular in Iran. It Greek pronounciation was eriadres and Oodatis .This was a romantic story in which two heroes named rozeya and Ooda dreamed each other and fell in love. After waking up  ,they looked for one another .Kares mitileni has said that this love story was very famous among people in Iran and they used to read it with great enthusiasm and drew pictures of this story on walls of sanctuaries and large places .According to these writings and documents left from the time of Hakhamaneshies ,Iranian used to draw romantic stories on the walls of their houses and places .After the discovery of some pieces of these wall colorful drawings of the Hakhamaneshies era ,It has been quite evident that these drawings have been colorful and were reflectewd in the literatures of post Islam period.These findings stress that during the sasani dynasty, artists drew the heroic and epic stories in their books. Iranians have been resourceful and founder in drawing miniature and types of drawings had their origins in the ancient Iran .Professor Poop in his unique master pieces ,arts of Iran,Stress that since five centuries before christ until the eight century ,the style of drawing in Iran had a large influence on chinese drawings.

Of course it should be mentioned that due to different governments in power ,Iran's art of drawing has undergone striking changes and revolutions. Thus the characteristics ofeach period represents the style and school of that specific time .One of these schools is the Harat school of art . For the genuinness and solidity it reseves for lines,color and design ,this school can be remembered us a vigorous basis and foundation for the identification of Iran's art of drawing and miniature.

Teimour lang started to attack and capture Iran in 1381. Like the atrocites done by Moghols ,the conquest of Iran by Teimour broght about a lot of devastations and ruins.As it can be infered from the literary sources of the time ,after having seized Tabriz and Baghdad ,Teimour send some of the artists and craftsmen of these cities to the capital,I.e. Samarghand  . Although a lot of moral violence and declinations and destructions occured during this period ,the art of miniature developed a lot.

Shahrouk ,the son of Teimour ,during the reign of his father was the governor of korasan.He established an important cultural center within the domain of his govenorship through encouraging and praising the craftsmen and scientists. Thus the city of  mashad on those days changed into one of the reputable centers of art. Due to the fact that the school of Harat ,followed the style established in mashad .this aspect of art can go by the name of "School of Korasan " However since Shahrouk transfered his headquarters from mashad to Harat ,this city (Harat) on its turn was converted into a large center for different kinds of artistic activities such as the art of drawing. particulary during the kingdom of his son ,Basiongour ,great artists were trained and educated in this city .Hence ,art researchers remember this aspect of drawing as the school of Harat.

On the whole during the reign of shahrouk ,The enrichment of Iran's art of miniature started from Harat as its center .Shahrouk and his sons ,Ologbig and Baisonger were supporters of industry ,particularly the technologies related to book-writing .Basiongor established a large library in which fourty drawers (miniaturists) , gilders , calligraphers  and book-binders duplicated and pictured books especially the Shahnameh ,Ferdosi's master piece.with the lapse of time and having left behind a rich and brilliant history which deserves a lot of pieces of research ,Iran's miniature at the present time is remarkably moving towards its highest level of development .At present ,While being committed to the principles which distinguish the miniature from other particular arts ,Iranian miniaturists through usiung his creativity and innovation is seeking to bring new and  creative works into existance .Among the innovators in this part of art of miniature ,Professor Hossein Behzad Tehrani is surly one of the bests.