Chapters 1 and 2 Summary and Analysis

Chapter 1: Le West End

Edmund de Waal recalls how he used to sketch the buildings on the Rue de Monceau in Paris. It was at the Hotel Ephrussi at Number 81 where the netsuke began their journey in the family and where Charles Ephrussi had a private suite of rooms on the second floor. There were horses and carriages in those days—their stables now replaced with houses. Edmund imagines the sounds of the trotting horses that Charles and his brothers, who also had suites in the building, heard in the house. The hotel was a family home then. The Ephrussi family had another opulent residence in Vienna, the Palais Ephrussi on the Ringstrasse.

In those days, it was the intent of the Ephrussi family to emulate the Rothschilds who had sent their sons out from Frankfurt at the...