Unknown - portraits of a mother and daughter

I find this pair of American miniature portraits fascinating! The ladies do not fall into the category of "pretty young ladies", but their relationship is a puzzle. Are they both the same person painted twice, or are they sisters, twins, or mother and daughter?

My pick is mother and daughter. The reasons for saying that are that they are both wearing the same style of clothing and their poses are identical. So were painted by the same artist at the same time, although their leather cases are a little different.

I think the lady in the orange dress is the mother and the lady in the blue dress is her daughter. Although they are wearing very similar gold brooches, their rings are different. The orange lady is sitting on a chair as a sign of age, but the blue lady appears to be standing, or sitting on a backless chair.

Their identities are unknown, as is the artist. I feel it ought to be possible to pick the artist, but I have not been able to do so, and would welcome any visitor opinions as to who painted them.

The artist is not one of the top artists of the day, but they did have a degree of skill, perhaps self taught, and it is unusual for such strong colors to be used. The lacework is also very well painted. I think the style is similar to the work of Alvan Clark, but not quite up to his quality. 1450, 1451