Anyone know furniture? This old laquered cabinet served as my mom’s bar for decades. The laquer is now chipping away – the left side looks a lot like the front – but I have no idea if it’s salvageable, or worth restoring – or should just be repaired, sanded, stained, and used as a functional antique. Input welcome!
Playing in the World Game 
That’s a beautiful piece! I’ve passed it on to my friends, especially my daughter-in-law, who has a chest of drawers that looks a lot like this to me.
It might be savable, but you need someone who plays with those materials a lot to pass judgement. I don’t – Standard “Talking out loud from my nether regions” disclaimer applies.
My thought would be to get out the 1200-grit sandpaper and very gently knock the gloss off the good lacquer and clean off the exposed wood (so you don’t glue the dirt in place) then try a thin coat of lacquer over the whole thing and see if it all blends together. Might start experimenting on the back-side.
The idea being to build up the voids in the chipped and flaked areas with fresh lacquer and sand till it’s all even – “Lather, Rinse, Repeat” – then a few overall coats.
It looks like it was a lovely piece but from the picture and the little I know about Chinese art… not the most sophisticated of drawings and perhaps not worth worrying about… (I will send the photo to my brother (my Chinese scholar) just in case it is…. but otherwise I would follow Mr. Bergman’s recommendations…