With the spread of Islam outward from the Arabian Peninsula in the seventh century, the figurative artistic traditions of the newly conquered lands profoundly influenced the development of Islamic arts. Ornamentation in Islamic art came to include figural representations in its decorative vocabulary, drawn from a variety of sources e.g. Quran and Hadist.

In some cases, decorative images are closely related to the narrative painting tradition, where text illustrations provided sources for ornamental themes and motifs. Miniature paintings were integral parts of these works of art as visual aids to the texts.