Edmund de Waal a potter and Professor of Ceramics has written a lovely memoir of the Ephrussi family originally from Odessa who achieved great wealth in the grain business and established themselves in Vienna and Paris. De Waal has interwoven through this narrative the story of a collection of Netsuke, Japanese wood and ivory carvings, gathered by Charles Ephrussi in Paris. The second world war and Nazi savagery smashed up this world; told with moving eloquence by this gifted writer.
(David Graham - bwl 59 Winter 2011 ) |
