The news comes in its annual report which shows the committee recommended the Arts Minister to put a temporary export bar on 13 items in the hope that a British buyer could be found for them.
The six that did find buyers had a total value of £490,740 and included:
• the Chaloner carpet of c.1600, decorated with vines, flowers, fruits, birds and insects (£297,970), purchased by the Burrell Collection, Glasgow;
• a pastel portrait of great immediacy by John Russell RA, One of the porters of the Royal Academy (£102,338), first exhibited at the Royal Academy in 1792 and now returned to Somerset House through its acquisition by the Courtauld Gallery;
• the Swan Roll manuscript illustrating, with profile drawings, the ownership marks of swans in late 15th century Norfolk (£34,582), purchased by Norfolk Record Office;
• a decorated Romano-British vessel from the Nene Valley potteries (£3850) and an ornamented silver gilt Anglo-Saxon scabbard mount (£9000), both purchased by the British Museum; and
• a Georgian model gun-howitzer, the carronade (£43,000), purchased by Falkirk Council for display in Callendar House, close to the original site where the actual guns were manufactured by the Carron Company.
Grants towards these purchases were made by the Heritage Lottery Fund/National Heritage Memorial Fund, the National Arts Collection Fund, the Resource/Victoria and Albert Museum Purchase Grant Fund and the Friends of the National Libraries.
Export Review Committee saves six treasures for Britain
UK: THE Export Review Committee, which assesses whether outstanding works of art should be allowed to leave the country, has helped six such pieces stay in Britain in the past year.
