A cross between a biography of the Ephrussi family, and a history tracing the movements of 264 netsuke sculptures (including the title sculpture) from their initial acquisition in the late 1800s by Charles Ephrussi. The family's history is fascinating, once as wealthy and influential as the Rothschilds, painted by Renoir and acquainted with Proust, Monet, and others.

Through the family's story the author learns and recounts the history of the family in Europe and the growing anti-semitism leading to the loss of the family home, bank, and almost everything else during World War II. The netsuke collection is saved from the nazis by a family servant and returned to the family after the war until they eventually come into the possession of the author, a direct descendant.

Not necessarily a fast read, but a very remarkable story of a remarkable family and also a disturbing account on a personal level of how quickly anti-semitism turned into open persecution.