In the late 18th century a new sister art and rival to miniature portraits appeared. Since about 1700 miniaturists had worked on ivory, and before that on vellum (animal skin). Up to the late 18th century, watercolour was used mainly by topographic artists, who applied it on paper to tint their drawings. But as watercolour painting developed as an art in its own right, miniaturists saw that working on paper was easier, and so quicker and cheaper. They could thus attract new patrons. Many now widened their repertoire and developed types of watercolour portraits on paper or card. They produced elegant graphite drawings, either tinted lightly with a watercolour wash or with the sitter's head painted minutely in watercolour.

This watercolour portrait on paper by Andrew Robertson is typical of early 19th-century variations on this type of portrait, with the face finished, the figure lightly washed and the background left bare. One problem with paper is that it can quickly discolour and degrade, unlike the more expensive vellum or ivory. This miniature does not seem to have suffered too badly.