Objection to overseas sale of council's '£2.5m' bust

The bust is of Highland landowner Sir John Gordon

An objection has been raised against an artwork that is held in the care of a Scottish local authority being sold to an overseas buyer.

The marble bust of Highland landowner Sir John Gordon was made by French artist Edmé Bouchardon in 1728 and has been valued to be worth £2.5m.

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.

But a new report said the local authority's application for a UK export licence, which is needed in case of an overseas sale, had been opposed and the licence bid was now under review.

Invergordon Town Council bought the sculpture for £5 in 1930, but it was later placed in storage at an industrial estate and its value was not widely appreciated until recent years.

Invergordon Museum has contacted BBC Scotland News to say it is behind the export licence objection.

A hearing of the Reviewing Committee on the Export of Works of Art and Objects of Cultural Interest was held last month after the objection was raised.

The new Highland Council report said: "The committee is assessing whether the bust meets any of the three Waverley Criteria and whether the export licence should be deferred.

"The council is currently awaiting the outcome of this review, and members will be updated in due course."

The Waverley Criteria is a set of measures used to determine whether an artwork is a national treasure and if any sale to an overseas buyer would be considered a "misfortune".

It is designed to give institutions, such as museums and galleries, a chance to purchase the art.

The council report is due to be discussed at a meeting of the Black Isle and Easter Ross area committee next week.

Invergordon Museum said it had raised previous concerns the sculpture being lost to the local area.

It has proposed displaying the bust as part of a long-term loan, a move it says would help generate funds for the area from visitors to the museum.

The son of a banker, Sir John Gordon's family owned large areas of land in Sutherland and Ross-shire and established the town of Invergordon on the Cromarty Firth.

Gordon was a young man travelling through continental Europe when he met Bouchardon in Rome in 1728 and the sculpture was made.

Gordon became an MP in 1742.

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.

The local town council bought the artwork for £5 at an auction in Kindeace, near Invergordon, in 1930.

It is understood the bust was to be put on display in Invergordon Town Hall, before it was later moved to storage and almost forgotten.

Records relating to the piece are thought to have been disposed of during local government reorganisation in the 1970s and 90s, according Rob Gibson, speaking to BBC Scotland News in 2014 when he was a local MSP.

Maxine Smith, a Highland councillor, said she rediscovered the bust in 1998.

She said it was found propping open a door in a Highland Council unit on an industrial estate in Balintore, about 14 miles from Invergordon.

Highland Council describes the sculpture as a community asset belonging to Invergordon Common Good Fund.

In Scotland, common good funds go back to the 15th Century and involve land, investments and property that exist under law for the benefit of burgh residents.