Johann Wilhelm Normann Munthe (27 July 1864 – 13 May 1935) was a Norwegian military officer and art collector.

Biography

Munthe was born in

Bergen Bergen (, ) is a city and municipalities of Norway, municipality in Vestland county on the Western Norway, west coast of Norway. Bergen is the list of towns and cities in Norway, second-largest city in Norway after the capital Oslo. By May 20 ...

, Norway. He received a military education at the Cavalry Cadet School (''Kavaleriets underoffiserskole'') in

Trondheim Trondheim ( , , ; ), historically Kaupangen, Nidaros, and Trondhjem (), is a city and municipality in Trøndelag county, Norway. As of 2022, it had a population of 212,660. Trondheim is the third most populous municipality in Norway, and is ...

. He emigrated to

China China, officially the People's Republic of China (PRC), is a country in East Asia. With population of China, a population exceeding 1.4 billion, it is the list of countries by population (United Nations), second-most populous country after ...

in 1886, and first started working with the

Chinese Maritime Customs Service The Chinese Maritime Customs Service was a Chinese governmental tax collection agency and information service from its founding in 1854 until it split in 1949 into services operating in the Republic of China on Taiwan, and in the People's Republ ...

. He enlisted in the

Chinese Army The People's Liberation Army (PLA) is the military of the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) and the People's Republic of China (PRC). It consists of four services— Ground Force, Navy, Air Force, and Rocket Force—and four arms— Aerospac ...

during the

First Sino-Japanese War The First Sino-Japanese War (25 July 189417 April 1895), or the First China–Japan War, was a conflict between the Qing dynasty of China and the Empire of Japan primarily over influence in Joseon, Korea. In Chinese it is commonly known as th ...

(1894–95). Munthe had mastered the

Mandarin Chinese Mandarin ( ; zh, s=, t=, p=Guānhuà, l=Mandarin (bureaucrat), officials' speech) is the largest branch of the Sinitic languages. Mandarin varieties are spoken by 70 percent of all Chinese speakers over a large geographical area that stretch ...

language and remained as a cavalry instructor under General

Yuan Shikai Yuan Shikai (; 16 September 18596 June 1916) was a Chinese general and statesman who served as the second provisional president and the first official president of the Republic of China, head of the Beiyang government from 1912 to 1916 and ...

. Munthe's association with Yuan Shikai proved advantageous. He advanced in rank to lieutenant General and Chief of Legation Quarters Beijing. He was also an advisor to the Ministry of War; the first and only foreigner to achieve such a position. Munthe was an avid collector of Chinese works of arts, and his collection includes porcelain, paintings, costumes, and statues in bronze and marble. The collection now resides with the

West Norway Museum of Decorative Art The West Norway Museum of Decorative Art (), also referred to as KODE 1, is located in Bergen, Norway. It was established in 1887 at the initiative of Johan Bøgh. In 1896 the museum moved into a permanent exhibition building, a Renaissance Revi ...

(''Vestlandske Kunstindustrimuseum'') in Bergen. The

Jordan Schnitzer Museum of Art :see also the ''Jordan Schnitzer Museum of Art'', Washington State University, Pullman, Washington Jordan Schnitzer Museum of Art (JSMA) is an art museum located on the campus of the University of Oregon in Eugene, Oregon. The original building w ...

at the

University of Oregon The University of Oregon (UO, U of O or Oregon) is a Public university, public research university in Eugene, Oregon, United States. Founded in 1876, the university is organized into nine colleges and schools and offers 420 undergraduate and gra ...

also holds a large number of works collected by Munthe and later acquired by the museum's founder, Gertrude Bass Warner (1863–1951).

Personal life

In 1919, he married German-born Alexandra Ethelred von Herder (1867–1920 ). She was the widow of Frederick William Grantham (1870–1915) and was the mother of Sir

Alexander Grantham Sir Alexander William George Herder Grantham, GCMG ( zh, c=葛量洪; 15 March 1899 – 4 October 1978) was a British colonial administrator who governed Hong Kong and Fiji. Early life, colonial administration career Grantham was born on ...

(1899–1978) who was

Governor of Hong Kong The governor of Hong Kong was the representative of the United Kingdom, British The Crown, Crown in British Hong Kong, Hong Kong from 1843 to 1997. In this capacity, the governor was president of the Executive Council of Hong Kong, Executiv ...

from 1947 to 1957. Munthe died during 1935 in Beijing and was buried at the British Municipal Cemetery in

Tianjin Tianjin is a direct-administered municipality in North China, northern China on the shore of the Bohai Sea. It is one of the National Central City, nine national central cities, with a total population of 13,866,009 inhabitants at the time of the ...

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Munthe, Johann Wilhelm Normann 1864 births 1935 deaths Military personnel from Bergen Norwegian Army personnel Norwegian art collectors Collectors of Asian art 20th-century art collectors Norwegian expatriates in China Customs officials Chinese military personnel of the First Sino-Japanese War Military personnel of the Boxer Rebellion People of the 1911 Revolution Qing dynasty generals Norwegian generals Recipients of the Cross of St. George Commanders First Class of the Order of the Dannebrog Commanders First Class of the Order of the Sword Commanders of the Legion of Honour