A History of Fine Art in India and Ceylon, from the Earliest Times to the Present Day c20.s1.2

c20.s1.2

The art thus suddenly brought into India by the action of an enlightened despot came directly from Persia. But in origin it was not mainly Persian, that is to say, Iranian ; nor can its descent be traced from the art of Sassanian times. The style, as we know it, entered Persia from Transoxiana, now Russian Turkistan, which received the technique from China. The indigenous Iranian elements, which must exist in the earliest examples of the Persian 'miniaturist's' art, are matters of faith rather than of knowledge, having been obscured and overwhelmed by the dominant Chinese and Mongol character. When first introduced into India, the art was largely Mongol in both subject and treatment, with obvious marks of strong Chinese influence.