This low, stick back chair is typical of the west coast of Scotland and is an example of Robert Sutherland’s application of Scottish furniture making traditions to his Otago situation. These chairs are sometimes called ‘cutty stools’ because of their short stature. The legs and spindles of this type of chair are hand shaped rather than turned. This chair is made entirely of New Zealand timbers with a kauri patch in the seat where a large knot reputedly dropped out. It is in a quite different style to the chair Sutherland made for his wife and has arms, which probably indicates that it was his own chair as ‘master of the house’. In the Highland tradition it would never have been surrendered to anyone else, not even an honoured guest.