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10/08/2004
Export bar put on 'magnificent' medieval Psalter
Arts Minister Estelle Morris has placed a temporary export bar on an "outstanding illuminated manuscript" dating from the 14th century known as the Macclesfield Psalter.
The work, thought to be the most important discovery of any English illuminated manuscript in living memory, was until earlier this year, unknown and unrecorded. Its discovery adds hugely to established knowledge of English fourteenth-century art, of which very little survives elsewhere.
Estelle Morris's ruling follows a recommendation by the Reviewing Committee on the Export of Works of Art that the export decision be deferred. The deferral will enable purchase offers to be made at the following agreed fair market price:
The Macclesfield Psalter will be deferred at the recommended price of £1,685,600 (excluding VAT) until after 10 November 2004 with the possibility of an extension be made until after 10 February 2005 if there is a serious intention to raise funds with a view to making an offer to purchase.
The Psalter was produced in East Anglia, probably at Gorleston - its miniatures include the patron Saints of Suffolk and Gorleston church. It contains some of the most technically accomplished and best-preserved paintings of its period (1300-1350).
Even when compared with the volumes to which it is most closely related, this iconographic vocabulary is particularly unusual, inventive and compelling, the department said.
(gmcg)
The work, thought to be the most important discovery of any English illuminated manuscript in living memory, was until earlier this year, unknown and unrecorded. Its discovery adds hugely to established knowledge of English fourteenth-century art, of which very little survives elsewhere.
Estelle Morris's ruling follows a recommendation by the Reviewing Committee on the Export of Works of Art that the export decision be deferred. The deferral will enable purchase offers to be made at the following agreed fair market price:
The Macclesfield Psalter will be deferred at the recommended price of £1,685,600 (excluding VAT) until after 10 November 2004 with the possibility of an extension be made until after 10 February 2005 if there is a serious intention to raise funds with a view to making an offer to purchase.
The Psalter was produced in East Anglia, probably at Gorleston - its miniatures include the patron Saints of Suffolk and Gorleston church. It contains some of the most technically accomplished and best-preserved paintings of its period (1300-1350).
Even when compared with the volumes to which it is most closely related, this iconographic vocabulary is particularly unusual, inventive and compelling, the department said.
(gmcg)
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