Archaeologist Nicholas Conrad of Tu-bingen University in Germany in 2003 led a small team that found three sculptures in the Hohle Fels Cave in the Swabia region of southwest Germany that may be the world's oldest. Carved in ivory from a mammoth, these sculptures are 2.5-5 centimeters in length and are believed to be over 30,000 years old.
By the seventh century, in Islamic nations miniature Korans had been created to make it easier for nomadic peoples and soldiers on foreign campaigns to read the scriptures. Miniature books detailing family genealogies were also passed down from generation to generation.
The oldest extant Chinese miniature carvings came from the Western Zhou Dynasty (1050-771 BC): works in tortoiseshell that were buried with the nobility. Back then small characters were carved into tortoiseshells to record divinations, keep accounts, and list the ingredients of herbal medicines. A piece 0.9 cm wide and 15 cm long with 20 characters written on it has been found from the Warring States era (475-221 BC). This could be regarded as the forerunner of miniature books in East Asia.
With the advent of the civil service exam system in the Sui and Tang Dynasties, texts written in miniature on handkerchiefs, clothing and small pieces of paper began to be seen. Students used these to cheat on the exams. It wasn't until the Song Dynasty that miniature carving entered the realm of artistic creation. Artists would carve people, animals and landscapes in stones, fruit pits, water buffalo bones, and ivory. These became treasured collector's items among the literati.
Chinese miniatures reached their peak in the Ming and Qing dynasties. The Ming artist Wang Shu-yuan carved a boat from a walnut shell 4 cm long by 2-plus cm high. The boat features vividly realized passengers with finely detailed clothing. The boat's structure is wonderfully detailed, and its hull even bears the poem "Ode to the Red Cliff" by Su Shi (1037-1101). The workmanship is truly outstanding, making it one of the most celebrated works in Taipei's National Palace Museum. Another treasured work is a boat carved in a Canarium pit by Chen Zuzhang of the Qing Dynasty. But the crafting of miniatures became a virtually lost art during the wars and chaos of the late Qing and the early years of the Republic of China. Miniatures in Taiwan during that period were even fewer in number.
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