MASSACHUSETTS, 1740-1760

Purchased at the same time as the set of four chairs in the previous lot, this pair of chairs displays the same rounded-stile refinement. Lacking the features on the stretchers and lower back legs associated with Rhode Island craftsmanship, such as medial stretchers with double-beads, side stretchers with pronounced rings and squared back feet, these chairs can be firmly ascribed to Massachusetts. In 1967, they were recorded as such by Joseph K. Ott and for almost fifty years they stood alongside the set in previous lot in the dining room of the Ott residence (the Rhode Island features are discused in the Rhode Island Furniture Archive at the Yale University Art Gallery, RIF2883, see also previous lot).