I finished reading this book once and am going back through it a second time. My intent in this post is not to write a book review, but to describe what I read and how I felt about it. My original post contains a competent review by a competent book reviewer and I suggest you read or re-read it. My copy was the Kindle Edition. It contained a family tree and pictures that I would have enjoyed being to view in greater detail; the family tree would have aided my ability to follow the family through the generations. I have made a hand-written copy of the Family Tree that I am using it as I progress through my re-read.
This book has a very very long prologue. On my first read, I skimmed it. Big mistake. Take the time to read it thoroughly. It describes what the author, Edmund de Waal, was attempting to achieve. In my view, he succeeded, though, artist that he is, he surely is second-guessing whether he should have spent a bit more time on reading the copious materials he found or that were made available to him, or spent more time in researching in Paris, Tunbridge Wells, Odessa, Vienna, Paris, or Tokyo. But then, second-guessing and re-doing are what differentiates great artists from mere artists.
Part One is about the Netsuke collection’s time in Paris, beginning much earlier with the Ephrussi family’s roots in Odessa where they cornered the wheat market and leveraged that business into a finance and banking business rivaling that of the Rothschild family Following the Rothschild strategy, Ephrussi offspring were sent to what were then the European banking centers of London, Paris and Vienna. One of the sons, Charles was deemed unsuitable to money management and was encouraged to pursue a career in art, not as an artist, but as a very talented art critic and collector. ( A bonus of this book is that should you read it thoroughly, you will receive lesson after lesson in art criticism as well as art history. You also learn what it takes to build a truly great collection. Charles by going to Italy, where he devoted months to viewing the greatest collections in the most outstanding museums and galleries, began assembling one of the greatest European collections of paintings and tapestries. After all, he was a gallery-owners dream: a collector with no budgetary constraints! While collecting paintings and acquiring a mistress who shared his interest in paintings, he became fascinated with Japanese lacquer boxes, then came the 264 Netsuke that Charles acquired from his dealer in Paris.
In Part Two, the scene shifts to Vienna. Becoming disinterested in the now overly collected Netsuke (new lesser quality and cheaper Netsuke are being made by Japanese craftsmen) and wanting to use the space occupied by the vitrine that has held the Netsuke, Charles has them sent, as a wedding gift to a his new cousin Emma who lives in the family palace with Charles’ cousin Viktor who runs the Vienna branch of the family bank. Viktor has no time for art and the vitrine with the Netsuke are stored in Emma’s private dressing room. Emma does not care much for art either – her thing is buying clothes. She is the Imelda Marcos of dresses. She does not have much time for her children either. The only time they see her is in the dressing room where, while being dressed two to three times a day by her faithful maid Anna, Emma would allow the children join her. While Emma ignored the children, they would open up the vitrine and take out the Netsuke for play toys. One of the children, Ignace, nicknamed Iggie, becomes fascinated with them (much later, he would be the one to take them home to their country of manufacture. The time in Vienna is the saddest part of the story. This is the time of Hitler’s ascendance Austria and it is when the Viennese part of the family loses all of its material possessions; in some cases the Reich merely seizes it, in others the German’s wish to observe legal formalities and they buy the property at cents on the dollar. The family sell at ridiculous prices because they need to bribe and buy their way out of Austria. Elizabeth, one of Emma’s daughters and grandmother to Edmund de Waal, had previously become a lawyer and moved to Switzerland. Using her strong personality, intelligence and legal training, she is able to secure the travel passes that got her parents out of Vienna just before they would have been sent to the concentration camps and almost certain death. Following the war, Elizabeth tries to recover the house in Vienna and other property that she can locate; but by then new people have taken over and the Austrian government has no interest in reparations. Elizabeth finally accepts the inevitable. But, miraculously, the Netsuke are saved: since the family maid Anna was not Jewish, the Reich asked her to help crate everything up for export to Berlin. While helping with the crating, Anna hides the 264 Netsuke in her mattress. Anna returns the Netsuke to Elizabeth during her post-war attempts to recovered the family house and its Austrian Bank.
The family make their way to England, to Tunbridge Wells, where they gather and Viktor tries not to think too much about how far the families fortunes have fallen. Of course the Netsuke also take up in Tunbridge Wells in England where they rest for a while before Iggy take them to Tokyo. Iggy, who had seemed a serial failure at life has made a career and name for himself in Japan. Iggie is sufficiently humble to recognize that part of his success is owing to the novelty, at that time, of being a westerner in Japan. The Netuske return to Japan (you must read the book to learn why) where they remain from about 2001 to 2009. Edward, as part of his research for this book, visits Iggie several times as part of his research. It is during one of the last visits that he learns that on Iggie’s death, he will become custodian of the 264 Netsuke.
On Jiro’s death, the Netsuke return to England where they remain today.
One has to wonder, of course, where will the Netsuke go next. To Edward’s children? These Netsuke must be priceless.
Passing Through . . . . 