Export Licences

A temporary export block has been placed on Sir Ernest Shackleton’s polar medal in the hope a buyer in the UK can pay £1.7m.

Two rare artworks sold through auction houses Christie’s and Sotheby’s have been temporarily blocked from export to give UK museums a chance to buy the multi-million-pound treasures.

A bottle vase by the famed studio potter Hans Coper which was owned by the world-renowned sculptor Henry Moore has been blocked from export in the hope a UK institution can raise the £600,000 price tag.

A New Testament bible formerly owned by the French King Jean II but believed to have been in the UK for more than 600 years has been temporarily barred from export.

A Giacometti chandelier and drawings which helped develop Kew Gardens have been blocked from export in the hope a UK institution will raise funding.

A temporary export block has been placed on a portrait of cavalry officers in the British Indian Army by Philip de László, in the hope it can be purchased by a UK institution.

Sir Joshua Reynolds’ Portrait of Mai (Omai) has been bought jointly by The National Portrait Gallery and the Getty Museum after long-running discussions.

An anti-slavery poem written in ancient Greek by Samuel Taylor Coleridge (1772-1834) has been temporarily barred from being exported from the UK.

The National Museum of the Royal Navy is launching a fundraising plan to buy a flag from polar explorer Captain Henry Kellett (1806-75).

Six artworks are set to be saved for the nation according to the latest Exports of Objects of Cultural Interest report.

A limestone relief depicting a group of female musicians in the palace of the Egyptian pharaoh Akhenaten has been temporarily blocked from export.

An Italian Nativity scene has been saved for the nation after it was blocked from export by the government.

A 14th century French gothic ivory casket or coffret has been blocked from export by the UK government in the hope a British institution can raise the £1.5m funds needed to keep it in the country.

An export block has been issued on a Victoria Cross medal in the hope a UK buyer will emerge.

A conjoined roundel manuscript given by the Archbishop of Canterbury to Queen Elizabeth I has been temporarily blocked from export in the hope a UK institution can raise the funds.

A flag from polar explorer Captain Henry Kellett (1806-1875) has been barred from export in the hope £120,000 can be raised to keep it in the UK.

Sir Joshua Reynolds’ portrait of Omai has been blocked from export to give institutions time to raise the funds to keep it in the UK and the National Portrait Gallery is leading the efforts.