UK Export Bar Placed on £4.6m Antico Bronze Seated Nymph
An export ban has been enacted by the UK government on a rare bronze sculpture by Renaissance artist Pier Jacopo Alari Bonacolsi, also known as Antico, which is appraised at £4.6m. This 20-centimetre-high piece, titled Seated Nymph and created circa 1503, showcases mercury gilding and silver-inlaid eyes. The ban will be lifted on 17 December, allowing the current owners 15 business days to evaluate offers, followed by a five-month grace period. Arts and museums minister Ruth Mackenzie aims to retain the statue within the UK. Previously in the possession of the Dukes of Bedford, it fetched £1.4m at Sotheby’s London in 2009. The Reviewing Committee provides guidance to the DCMS regarding culturally significant objects. Other Antico works reside in prominent museums.
Key facts
- UK government places export bar on Antico's Seated Nymph valued at £4.6m.
- The 20cm bronze, dating from around 1503, has mercury gilding and silver-inlaid eyes.
- Export bar initially expires on 17 December, with possible extensions.
- Sculpture sold at Sotheby's London in 2009 for £1.4m with fees.
- Previously in the collection of the Dukes of Bedford at Woburn Abbey.
- Ruth Mackenzie, minister for arts and museums, commented on keeping the work in the UK.
- Another version is at the National Gallery of Art, Washington DC, and was in a 2012 Antico exhibition at the Frick Collection.
- Other Antico works are at the Fitzwilliam Museum, Cambridge, and the Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York.
Entities
Artists
- Pier Jacopo Alari Bonacolsi
- Antico
- Ruth Mackenzie
- Alan Hobart
- Stuart Lochhead
Institutions
- Department for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport
- DCMS
- Sotheby's
- Pyms Gallery
- Reviewing Committee on the Export of Works of Art and Objects of Cultural Interest
- National Gallery of Art
- Frick Collection
- Fitzwilliam Museum
- Metropolitan Museum of Art
- The Telegraph
Locations
- London
- United Kingdom
- Woburn Abbey
- Bedfordshire
- Mantua
- Italy
- Washington DC
- United States
- New York
- Cambridge