When his great uncle Iggie Ephrussi died, artist Edmund inherited 264 netsukes, Japanese miniature sculptures. Always curious, De Waal took it upon himself to discover the history of these netsukes. In doing so, De Waal not only uncovered the history of the miniature sculptures, but also that of his Russian Jewish family, the Ephrussis. A nineteenth-century banking dynasty in Paris and Vienna, the Ephrussis were as rich and respected as the Rothchild’s. Until 1938, that is, when the Ephrussi family lost their entire property to the Nazis.
