Central Asia is located in the center of Eurasia and extends from the Caspian Sea in the west to the Dunhuang province in China in the east. To the north lies Russia and to the south are Iran, and Afghanistan. Central Asia consists of the republics of Kazakstan, Uzbekistan, Turkmenistan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan and Uighur autonomous region of Sinkiang.

The physical geography of Central Asia is highly varied. The major features are vast grasslands in the north, wide plains in the west and central areas, and the highest mountain peaks in the world to the east and south.

For the last 2500 years, most of the population of Central Asia has lived either along the fertile banks of the rivers and streams flowing through the flat plains in the central part of the region or in the foothills of the mountains to the south and east. The cultural geography of Central Asia includes over 120 different ethnic groups.

Central Asian human history begins some 35000 to 25000 years ago. The first human groups that are identifiable by name are two Iranian groups of the Cimmerians and the Scythians (1200 B.C.). The Scythians had a highly developed metallurgy and their sophisticated style of art is called “animal style art”. Some of the oldest burial mounds in Central Asia include Scythian animal style art. One of these burial mounds at Pazyryk from the 5th century B.C includes: gold belt buckles, jewelry, and decorations displaying rams, griffins and other animals. The remarkable textiles recovered from the Pazyryk burials include the oldest Persian woolen knotted carpet, the oldest embroidered Chinese silk, and felt hangings. There are a large number of scattered funerary metal and felt pieces belonging to south Siberians and Mongolian tribal groups found within this time (1200 B.C.-500 B.C.) with similarities to Scythian animal style art.

From the 6th century BC to the 4th century BC Central Asia was largely ruled by the Persian emperors of the Achamenid dynasty .A large part of Central Asia was divided into three Satrapies, or provinces, of the Achamenid empire: Chorasmia (Kharazm) on the lower Amu Darya (Oxus) near the Aral Sea. Soghdiana (Soghd) between Amu Darya (Oxus) and Syr Darya, and Bakhtaran to the south of Central Asia on the middle Amu. Since then, many Achamenid ornaments of the period including lotus flowers and rosettes were synthesized in the artistic traditions of Central Asia.

One of the dominating empires to rule a large part of Central Asia for over 480 years was the northeastern Iranian Parthian Empire (3rd century BC to 3rd century AD) The Parthian capital of Nisa (18 kilometres south of Ashkhabad in Turkmenistan )was founded around 171 B.C..Nisa contained several fine temples and an impressive palace built around a vast central hall. Life size statues of men and women were found within the temples and the palace.. The royal treasuries contained many valuables, including silver statues of deities and gods, painted pottery, glass and cast bronze animals, and a series of ivory horn shaped drinking vessels.

In the course of the 1st century AD there arose a new center of power to the south of Central Asia known as the Kushanid Empire. The rulers of Kushan extended their territories southwards. They pushed their frontier s as far as the Indus river and even farther to the shores of Ganges river. At the turn of the 1st and 2nd centuries , under king Kanishka , the Kushan state reached the height of its power., and was regarded the fourth powerhouse of the ancient world along with Parthia, China, and Rome. Buddism became the state religion of Kushanids , and it was from the Kushanid Empire, which ruled the area corresponding the present day Central Asia and Afghanistan, that Buddhism was introduced into China. A combination of Indian and Central Asian figurative art traveled east towards China The Kushan Empire declined by the middle of the third century and a new powerhouse in Central Asia emerged, known as the Persian Sassanid empire.

The province of Khawarazm, which corresponds to parts of present day Turkmenistan and Uzbekistan, was, like the rest of Central Asia a country with a mature urban civilization during the Kushanid and Sassanid kingdoms. Professor Tolstov’s excavations of Toprak-Kala one of the chief cultural centers of Khawarazm, carried out from 1947 to 1950 revealed a surprisingly highly developed ancient civilization. The city included a royal palace with three towers and beside it a temple and a large market. place. Tolstov concentrated his excavation on the royal palace where he found fragments of frescoes, sculptures, books written on wood and on leather, glazed pottery, and coins, all dating from the 3rd to 5th centuries. .On the other hand, within this period of time, numerous Manichaean and Nestorian Christian artists seeking refuge and fleeing persecution chose Central Asia as their new home. The new artists brought new techniques and decorative elements and added to the diversified cultural and artistic tradition of Central Asia.
Central Asia presented a rich variety of creeds. The ancient religion of the Iranian prophet Zoroaster was made a state religion by the Sassanids, and from the time of the Kushans Buddhism was also strongly represented.

In the second half of the 7th century, however a new conquest by Arabs overthrew the Persian Sassanid Empire and occupied the low lands of Central Asia, bringing a new religion, Islam, with them. Within the early Islamic period of the Central Asia, one of the outstanding political entities was the Samanid kingdom. The Persian-speaking Samanids had their capital in Bukhara. In the first half of the 10th century, Samanids occupied a large part of Central Asia. Ismail Samanid mausoleum in Bokhara is the oldest Islamic monument surviving in the area. The Ismail mausoleum structure is modeled after Zoroasterian fire temples of earlier periods. The mausoleum is a cubic shaped building with a domed ceiling, plaster and brick abstract geometric and organic decorations. Today the Persian-speaking Tajiks of Central Asia date their origins back to the Samanid dynasty.

The Mongol invasion of Central Asia in 1220, led by Ghenghiz Khan, caused the complete disruption of Central Asian cultural life and arts. Regions were depopulated, cities were burnt down , dams and irrigation channels were destroyed. Only few architectural monuments survived. From the ashes of the destroyed urban centers and villages emerged a new Turko-Iranian civilization, which was dominated by the new Turkic Mongolian warlords. However, one of these warlords, the Uzbek conqueror Timur, revived Samarkent with new glory by building a series of monuments widely known for their splendor and decorative use of glazed tiles. Wide and active trade brought prosperity to Samarkent. Timur gathered the best artists and craftsmen from his conquered territories and brought them to Samarkent. This resulted into the emergence of what is known as a renaissance of Central Asian art. A highly diversified style of arts appeared with strong Persian, Indian and Chinese elements synthesized in it. After the death of Timur in 1405 the Timurid empire declined and Samarkent was reduced to a provincial capital. The artistic revival that Timur had launched disappeared by the 16th century The Bokhara kingdom under the rule of Shibanid Turks was the main cultural center within this time.

In 1882 Bokhara was incorporated as a Russian state. This political act had little cultural effect. Traditional architectural styles revived in the 19th century. Following the Russian Revolution a new phase of art began in the Soviet controlled region of Central Asia. Pictorial arts, with the principles of social realism as defined by the Soviet authorities, began to be dictated from Moscow.