Our family moved back to Europe to take care of my elderly grandmother, and she passed away a few years later in the 1980s. Meanwhile, my own life was beginning to take shape as I was taking a 6-year Dental education.
My mother was entitled to inherit my grandparents’ whole Chinese collection of over 1000 artifacts; this was convenient for our family because we lived in a very big house near Copenhagen. This opportunity of having all these rare and beautiful Chinese artifacts in our house (many friends called our house a Museum) made me fall in love with Chinese art, especially the old and beautiful mandarin prayer chains. Precious beads like carved Zitan, Coral, Turquoise, Amber, Pearls, Lapis, Crystal and Agate received my special attention; this was my destiny!
My passion and love for these beautiful things made me establish the largest and most comprehensive Chinese Gallery in Northern Europe together with my wife Maja Stage, called Song Gallery. The name Song Gallery came from the golden age of monochrome ceramics in China, like Jun, Jin wares.
Since 1997, our Gallery has been leading in high quality Chinese objects like porcelain, Cloisonné and snuff bottles. But especially the beautiful, colorful and elegant Mandarin prayer Chains had always inspired my imagination. Unfortunately nobody in Scandinavia had any collector’s interest in these rare chains, so our
own big collection of Mandarin prayer chains of