A
Muraqqa is an album in book form containing Islamic miniature paintings and specimens of
Islamic calligraphy, normally from several different sources, and perhaps other matter. The album was popular among collectors in the Islamic world, and by the later 16th century became the predominant format for miniature painting in the Persian
Safavid,
Mughal and
Ottoman empires, greatly affecting the direction taken by the painting traditions of the
Persian miniature,
Ottoman miniature and
Mughal miniature. The album largely replaced the full-scale illustrated manuscript of classics of
Persian poetry, which had been the typical vehicle for the finest miniature painters up to that time. The great cost and delay of commissioning a top-quality example of such a work essentially restricted them to the ruler and a handful of other great figures, who usually had to maintain a whole workshop of calligraphers, artists and other craftsmen, with a librarian to manage the whole process. An album could be compiled over time, page by page, and often included miniatures and pages of calligraphy from older books that were broken up for this purpose, and allowed a wider circle of collectors access to the best painters and calligraphers, although they were also compiled by, or presented to, shahs and emperors. The earliest
muraqqa were of pages of calligraphy only; it was at the court in
Herat of the
Timurid prince
Baysunghur in the early 15th century that the form became important for miniature painting. The word
muraqqa means "that which has been patched together" in
Persian.