Career
After a military education in the cavalry, he emigrated to China in 1886, and started working as a customs officer He enlisted in the Chinese army in the war against Japan (1894-1895), and remained as a cavalry instructor under general Yuan Shikai. General 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 Vestlandske Kunstindustrimuseum.
General Munthe was the stepfather of Sir Alexander Grantham, Governor of Hong Kong from 1947 to 1957.