analyze Chinese Table please!

My brother in CA has had this table for years but doesn't know much about it. What can you tell him? He is particularly interested in likely provenance, uniqueness, meaning of the carving, type of wood, age guesstimate, etc.

The all-important measurements are 39x17x14.

 

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Drawer:

 

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I guess I'll dare to guess. I have seen a few pieces that look similar. When they're antique, they're called Opium Tables. When they're new or re-purposed, they're "coffee tables". I think the general genre is 'carved lacquered Asian tables'. I'll look for some pictures.

EDIT
Here's an Opium example.
http://www.the-saleroom.com/en-us/a...0000/lot-71c65134-36a0-48cb-8c46-a3f50128bf1f

 

I don't have any particular knowledge of Chinese furniture, except that when it comes to value, my impression is that the particular wood counts a great deal. A few types of wood are very rare and valuable.

 

I don't think particularly unique. Possibly considered a kang table, though most tend to have straight legs. You often see these marketed as opium tables, though I think that a rather romantic misnomer. Of course, the modern use is as a coffee table. I think this is probably early 20th century. Later examples tend to be more ornate with carved tops and such. I can't help you with wood or meaning of the carvings.

Here is some information about the kang with mention of a kang table in the text and an illustration of one in use.....

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kang_bed-stove

 

A "Kang" is a type of bed made of bricks. There's a cavity underneath for fire which warms the bricks, and then you sleep on top with a mattress and pillows and all the rest of it. They're usually backed onto a wall and there'd be a stove on the other side. The basic idea was that after finishing dinner, you shoved the burning wood or coal or whatever, out the back of the stove and into the underside of the Kang. Then by the time you went to bed, the dying flames would've warmed up the bed for you.

People tend to forget that for a period in Chinese history, a lot of people ate either sitting or kneeling on the floor, as a result, tables and trays were much lower to the ground than modern tables. That's what this type of table is trying to imitate.

Is it for opium? Possibly, but I doubt it.

Is it very old? Probably, but not especially so.

I'd say that this is probably a reproduction of the kind of table which was used in ancient China for serving/eating your meals on. Basically similar to this:



I suspect that doing this had less to do with customs and tradition, and more to do with thrift. A smaller table is cheaper and faster to make, and most people probably didn't have enough money for chairs, anyway.