UK government places export bar on ‘rare’ Renaissance sculpture worth £4.6m

The UK government has placed an export bar on a rare Renaissance bronze by Pier Jacopo Alari Bonacolsi (Antico), valued at £4.6m, giving UK institutions time to try to acquire it. The 20cm-high “Seated Nymph” (around 1503) is described by the Department for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport (DCMS) as bronze with mercury gilding on the hair and drapery and silver-inlaid eyes; the initial deferral expires on 17 December, followed by 15 business days for owners to consider an offer and a further five-month deferral period. Arts and museums minister Ruth Mackenzie said she hopes the bar will help keep the work in the UK, and the decision follows advice from the Reviewing Committee on the Export of Works of Art and Objects of Cultural Interest. The sculpture was previously owned by the Dukes of Bedford and sold at Sotheby’s London in 2009 for £1.4m (with fees), later associated with dealer Alan Hobart of Pyms Gallery; another version is in the National Gallery of Art, Washington, DC.

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