Chinese Wood Provincial Table

Slim table with red legs and a weathered top that has been through things.

This provincial table is from China, and dates to the early 19th century. It is lacquered elm wood. Once China slowly opened to visiting diplomats and businessmen, a trickle of antique furniture leaving the country became a flood that lasted through the 1980s, the 1990s and into the early 2000s. Plain rectangular top with a grayish, worn surface and slightly raised ends. Legs and stretchers are rubbed red, with brown showing through. Splayed side stretchers brace the narrow, round legs, and short brackets sit at each end. It is 41 inches long, 25.5 deep and 32.5 high.

Light on its feet and heavy with memories.