UK blocks export of £4.6m Renaissance bronze
UK museums and galleries have until 17 December to come forward to buy Antico’s Seated Nymph, cast more than 500 years ago.
A Renaissance bronze sculpture cast more than 500 years ago has been temporarily blocked from leaving the UK, giving galleries the chance to buy it for £4.6m.
Museums and galleries have until 17 December to come forward to acquire Antico’s Seated Nymph and keep it on public display, the government said.
The statuette stands just under 20cm tall and features mercury-gilded hair and drapery, with silver-inlaid eyes.
It was made by the Italian sculptor Pier Jacopo Alari Bonacolsi, known as Antico, and is regarded as one of Antico’s finest works.
The figure was probably designed to be held in the hand and turned, and the tiara on its head suggests it may represent a goddess such as Venus.
The Arts Minister, Ruth Mackenzie, said: “This statuette is small but mighty.”
Mackenzie said its “detail and refinement mark it out as an exceptional piece”, and hoped the export bar could “help keep this exquisite statue in the country where the public can also enjoy its beauty”.
The export bar follows advice from the Reviewing Committee on the Export of Works of Art and Objects of Cultural Interest (RCEWA), an independent body that advises the government on whether a cultural object intended for export is of national importance.
The committee recommended the bar after concluding the sculpture met the “outstanding aesthetic importance” criterion and was of “outstanding significance to the study of the history of sculpture collecting in the UK”.
Committee member Stuart Lochhead said the sculpture had been “rediscovered in the sculpture collection at Woburn Abbey”, and that its export “would be a great loss, depriving the public of the work of an exceptionally rare and hugely admired sculptor”.
Antico “forever linked his fame with his skill at imitating classical antiquity”, developing a “highly sophisticated technique” that made Antico “one of the leading artists at the court of Mantua”, Lochhead said.
A decision on the export licence application has been deferred until 17 December 2026, after which the owners will have 15 business days to consider any offers at the recommended price of £4.6m, plus VAT of £166,666.67.
If a buyer comes forward, a second deferral period will begin once an option agreement is signed, lasting five months to allow the sale to be completed.
