057/06
20 April 2006
Culture Minister Defers Export Of An Exquisite Roman Millefiori Enamelled Disc
Culture Minister, David Lammy, has placed a temporary export bar on a beautiful individually crafted Roman Millefiori enamelled disc. This will provide a last chance to raise the money to keep the disc in the United Kingdom.
The Minister's ruling follows a recommendation by the Reviewing Committee on the Export of Works of Art and Objects of Cultural Interest, run by the Museums, Libraries and Archives Council. The Committee recommended that the export decision be deferred on the grounds that the disk is of outstanding significance for the study of Roman millefiori and other enamel work.
The disc is one of just three known large decorative studs, all believed to be from Britain, which represent the finest workmanship in exquisite millefiori enamel inlay. It is thought that these may be fittings from high status horse gear and this disc could pay an important part in the study of such equipment. It is constructed with precision and elegance, retains intact almost all the minutely detailed inlay, and preserves the original colouring.
The decision on the export licence application for the disc will be deferred for a period ending on 19 June inclusive. This period may be extended until 19 August inclusive if a serious intention to raise funds with a view to making an offer to purchase the disc at the recommended price of £2260 is expressed.
Anyone interested in making an offer to purchase the disc should contact the owner's agent through:
The Secretary
The Reviewing Committee on the Export of Works of Art and Objects of Cultural Interest,
Museums, Libraries and Archives Council,
Victoria House,
Southampton Row,
London, WC1B 4EA.
Notes to Editors
1. From April 2005, responsibility for administering the work of the Reviewing Committee on the Export of Works of Art and Objects of Cultural Interest (RCEWA) was passed by DCMS to the Museums, Libraries and Archives Council (MLA). Media enquiries on the operation and casework arising from RCEWA and from the Acceptance in Lieu and Government Indemnity Schemes and the export licence system should go to Sharene Chatfield on 020 7273 1459, email sharene.chatfield@mla.gov.uk
2. The Reviewing Committee on the Export of Works of Art and Objects of Cultural Interest is an independent body, run by MLA, which advises the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport on whether a cultural object, intended for export, is of national importance under specified criteria. Where the Committee finds that an object meets one or more of the criteria, it will normally recommend that the decision on the export licence application should be deferred for a specified period. An offer may then be made from within the United Kingdom at or above the fair market price.
3. Pictures of these items can be downloaded free of charge from the MLA site on Pixmedia. Please go to http://www.pixmedia.co.uk/25/folder/618
4. The other two discs, from Usk, Gwent (National Museum of Wales, Cardiff) and from near Chepstow, Gwent (British Museum) are effectively an identical pair, and very likely from the same (probably British) workshop.
5. The three discs belong within a wider series of Roman millefiori enamelled bronze prestige items, notably ink-pots and other composite vessels, and a broader panoply of polychrome enamelled bronzes which were manufactured in Roman Britain and the North-western provinces of the Roman Empire in the first-to-second centuries AD.
6. This disc is arguably the most ambitious and technically skilled of the three, is believed to have been found in Oxfordshire. It is constructed with precision and elegance, and unique in its use of white canes and delicate 'fir-tree' inlays. Though it would benefit from expert cleaning, it is in very fine condition.
7. Study of the disc should help to advance our understanding of the technical processes involved in the manufacture of Roman millefiori enamelling, and may lead eventually to the identification of the products of individual workshops. The exact function of these decorative discs or studs also remains uncertain, and further research on this point will also be facilitated by retention of this fine example.
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