Cameron Angus-Mackay,BBC Scotland Newsand
Andrew Thomson,BBC Scotland News
Highland Council
The marble bust has a recommended sale price of £3.1m
The UK government has placed a temporary export ban on an 18th Century artwork in a bid to prevent it from being sold to an overseas buyer.
The marble bust of Highland landowner Sir John Gordon, made by French artist Edmé Bouchardon in 1728, has a recommended sale price of £3.1m.
Highland Council, which looks after the sculpture, has proposed selling it to raise funds for the community of Invergordon, a town named after the Gordon family.
Culture minister Baroness Twycross said the intervention had been made in the hope that the “extraordinary” sculpture could be acquired by a gallery or museum in the UK.
Sir John Gordon was a politician and landowner whose family founded the town of Invergordon.
For years the bust was a feature of the Gordon family’s Invergordon Castle, and survived a fire at the property in the 19th Century.
Invergordon Town Council bought the sculpture for £5 in 1930, but it was later placed in storage at an industrial estate.
The bust was left largely forgotten by Highland Council for many years until it was rediscovered.
Last year, Invergordon Museum raised an objection to Highland Council’s application for an export licence, which is needed for an overseas sale.
A spokesperson for the department for culture, media and sport said the temporary ban followed the advice of the reviewing committee on the export of works of art and objects of cultural interest (RCEWA).
The government said the committee highlighted the bust’s “aesthetic importance” and “outstanding significance” to the study of 18th Century sculpture in Britain and Europe.
The decision on the export licence application has been deferred until 8 April so that any offers can be made.
A spokesperson for Invergordon Museum said the government’s intervention was a “vital victory” for local and national heritage.
The heritage centre said it hoped to display the bust locally in a new facility.
Highland Council declined to comment on the temporary export ban because of the “ongoing process”.