A History of Fine Art in India and Ceylon, from the Earliest Times to the Present Day c20.s1.3

c20.s1.3

The earliest Persian paintings, or so-called 'miniatures', in the Bibliothèque Nationale, Paris, date from A. D. 1279–80, but pictures earlier than the fifteenth century are rare.¹ One of the most ancient illuminated manuscripts in Perso-Mongol style is the history in Persian of Chinghiz Khān and his family (*Jāmi’-ut-tawārīkh*), produced in the fourteenth century, and now in the library of the Royal Asiatic Society, London. Its numerous illustrations may be regarded as the best examples of the style in its early form. Chinese influence is apparent throughout, the figures being nearly pure Chinese; but the landscape is crudely conventional, and without any traces of that Chinese delight in the beauties of nature which prompted a critic of the Middle Kingdom to observe that 'only in landscape are depth and distance to be found, coupled with delights which never cease to please. Human figures, birds, insects, flowers, and plants belong more to "artisan art", and, although painted with exceeding skill, their beauties are exhausted at a glance.'² In the Royal Asiatic Society's manuscript landscape is not treated in this reverent spirit, being used merely as an accessory and background for figures. The colouring is not brilliant. Mr. Binyon remarks that