Beautiful side chair in dense native Welsh oak, carved with deep, flowing and exuberant floriate designs. It has a boldly curved top rail over a panel, flanked by square supports with pyramid finials, above a solid seat with applied mouldings, and is raised on finely-turned front and square rear legs united by stretchers.Wonderful colour and surface patination.The top part of the top rail appears to have been replaced and re-carved at some point, but it is very difficult to tell from the front.This design is often attributed to the north-west of England, but is also found throughout north Wales and port records show that carved chairs and tables were made in the Conwy valley and exported to Chester and Liverpool in kit form in the late 1600s. (See ''Welsh Furniture 1250-1950: A Cultural history of Craftsmanship and Design (Saer 2007), Vol. I, pp. 310-16)On the left hand upright, below the panel is a taper burn, an apotropaic mark to protect against witchcraft.Height...