Export Licences

A harpsichord that was sold at The Canterbury Auction Galleries in 2018 to a US buyer and later barred from export by the government has been saved for the nation by Gainsborough’s House museum.

A new museum in Plymouth has acquired a ‘colossal and extraordinary grotesque grinning crab’ by the Martin Brothers after fundraising to keep the sculpture in the UK.

A sledge and flag that were taken on Sir Ernest Shackleton’s 1907-09 British Antarctic Expedition have been temporarily blocked from export in the hope of finding a UK buyer.

The UK government is seeking a buyer to pay £2.5m for a group of 18th century botanical drawings.

The UK government’s arts minister Helen Whately has placed an export bar on a 15th century Middle English manuscript in the hope of finding a buyer to keep it in the UK.

An 18th century watercolour miniature by one of India’s greatest painters has been saved for the nation by the British Museum.

The French government has blocked the export of ‘The mocking of Christ’, a medieval panel by Cenni di Pepo (known as Cimabue) that sold in October for €19.5m plus premium at auction house Actéon.

The owner of a Thomas Gainsborough (1727-88) painting has been temporarily prevented from exporting the picture by the Department for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport (DCMS).

The government is hoping to find a buyer to pay £3.5m to keep an 18th century picture by Joseph Wright of Derby in the UK.

Fundraising led by writers’ association English PEN has helped save for the nation the judge’s annotated copy of 'Lady Chatterley’s Lover'.

Defra has added Dover and the Eurotunnel to the list of ports that will accept the import and export of CITES-listed natural history specimens.

A Sir John Everett Millais (1829-96) picture valued at £9.5m will be exported overseas unless funding can be raised to keep it in the UK.

Claude Monet’s ‘Le Palais Ducal’ has been temporarily blocked from export in the hope that a UK buyer can raise the £28.2m needed.

A JMW Turner landscape valued at £10m will be exported overseas unless funding can be raised to keep it in the UK.

A rare portrait of the dancer Vaslav Nijinsky has been temporarily stopped from export from the UK in the hope a museum can raise the funds to keep it in the country.

The Newbattle Abbey Kunstkammer is the latest work of art to be granted an export licence this year, despite the arts minister’s attempts to retain them for the nation.

An 18th century watercolour by the artist who John Constable described as a genius has been barred from export in the hope a UK buyer can be found.