7.6 /10 1 Votes
Publication date 2010 ISBN 978-0-374-10597-6 Originally published 2010 Page count 353 Subject Ephrussi family | 3.8/5 Goodreads Pages 353 OCLC 694399313 Genre Biography Awards Costa Biography Award | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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Publisher Farrar, Straus and Giroux Similar Edmund de Waal books, Ceramic books, Biographies | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
The hare with amber eyes a closer look at the netsuke
The Hare with Amber Eyes (2010) is a family memoir by British ceramicist Edmund de Waal. De Waal tells the story of his family, the Ephrussi, once a very wealthy European Jewish banking dynasty, centered in Odessa, Vienna and Paris, and peers of the Rothschild family. The Ephrussis lost almost everything in 1938 when the Nazis aryanized their property. Even after the war, the family failed to recover most of its extensive property, including priceless artwork, but an easily hidden collection of 264 Japanese netsuke miniature sculptures was miraculously saved, tucked away inside a mattress by Anna, a loyal maid at Palais Ephrussi in Vienna during the war years. The collection has been passed down through five generations of the Ephrussi family, providing a common thread for the story of its fortunes from 1871 to 2009.