May 8th 2012, 7:25 by T.E. | BUCKINGHAMSHIRE
THE walls are festooned with paintings by Reynolds and Gainsborough. There are desks made for French kings, an elephant sculpture that bewitched the Shah of Persia, and thousands of pieces of Sèvres porcelain that belonged to Louis XV. The contents of Waddesdon Manor, a turreted French-style chateau in Buckinghamshire, are as opulent as the house itself. For Edmund de Waal, a celebrated potter and author, the invitation to crea… (View original article)