A graduate of the art department at London University's School of Oriental and African Studies, towards the end of the Cultural Revolution in China she spent one year studying Chinese at the Peking Foreign Languages Institute. Returning to England, her first job was in London in the extensive Chinese porcelain collection of the Percival David Foundation.
她畢業於倫敦大學亞非學院藝術系，曾在文革末期留學北京外語學院一年，回國後任職擁有豐富瓷器收藏的大衛德基金會，和以裝飾藝術馳名於世的維多利亞博物院至今。