Gradually my mother became more and more interested, and in the weekends together with my grandfather she began visiting all the famous Chinese antique shops to gain more knowledge about porcelain, snuff bottles, calligraphy, Jade, mandarin and prayer chains.
My grandfather had great admiration for the Chinese people, and he met famous artists such as Xu Beihong. Unfortunately, his stay in China ended in 1946 when his whole family was stationed in Singapore. Here he continued to collect antiques together with my mother until she was married at 18 years of age to my Danish / Italian father, who was the director of a Danish company.
They lived for many years in both Singapore and Hong Kong; in this period my sister and brother were born.
My father had very good taste, and like my mother he became very fond of Fine Chinese Art. He began to collect blue/white porcelain in particular, from the Ming Dynasty and Qing Dynasty. This big porcelain collection consisted of over 150 pieces, but unfortunately it was stolen / lost on a ship in 1960, the same year our family moved to Denmark, where I was born.
During the next 6 years our family stayed in Denmark.
My father got a new job, again in Singapore, and later
worked in Hong Kong and Bangkok for nearly 10
years. In 1976 my beloved grandfather died in peace at the age of 80 years in his hometown of Grenoble, France, where he had been a Mayor for many years after he retired as a diplomat.