Edmund De Waal Books

To understand the netsuke, I had to travel backward—to Odessa, on the Black Sea, where my ancestors began as grain merchants. There the Ephrussis built their fortune with wheat, navigating between Russia and Western Europe, weaving themselves into the texture of 19th-century commerce. The family’s a...

From The Hare With Amber Eyes: A Hidden Inheritance

I found myself walking the streets of Belle Époque Paris, tracing the life of Charles Ephrussi, my distant cousin and one of the city’s foremost art connoisseurs. He was a figure of distinction and intrigue—a friend of Monet, Renoir, and Proust’s model for Swann. In his gilded apartments on Boulevar...

From The Hare With Amber Eyes: A Hidden Inheritance

The story of porcelain begins in mystery. When I first stood on the hills surrounding Jingdezhen, I imagined the centuries of experimentation that preceded the discovery of true porcelain. One must understand that it was not a single invention, but a slow and patient collaboration between geology, c...

From The White Road: A Pilgrimage of Sorts

My journey to Jingdezhen was an act of homage. This city, sometimes called 'the porcelain capital of the world,' sits along rivers that once carried millions of pots toward the imperial court. I walked through its narrow streets, through markets buzzing with artisans still practicing ancient methods...

From The White Road: A Pilgrimage of Sorts