Miniature painting was first instituted in the 16th century. The first testified time the word miniature was used in English to describe an art form was in the writings of Sir Philip Sidney in 1586 when he compared the life-sized reflections of women playing in the water with the miniature reflections of them in the bubbles formed by the spattering. Yet, antecedents to the miniature genre are occasionally found in the works of unknown artists 250 A.D.; and Lala of Cyzicus in Rome, who focused on little portraits made by drawing on top of ivory, during the 4th century.
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