A marble bust of Edward of Woodstock will stay in Britain while potential buyers have a chance to come forward. The Department for Culture, Media and Sport announced on 6 November 2026 that Heritage Minister Baroness Twycross had temporarily deferred a decision on an export licence for the sculpture. A UK institution can use that time to try to raise the money to acquire the work, which the government says is in a private collection.

Key facts

  • The 84-centimetre marble bust is by the Flemish sculptor Michael Rysbrack and dates to around 1735.
  • The government’s notice puts the end of the initial deferral at 5 February 2027, inclusive.
  • An advisory committee recommended the hold on the grounds of the work’s connection to British history and its importance for the study of sculpture and patronage.

What does the decision change for buyers and the owner?

Under the government’s general guidance for exporting cultural objects, an object subject to the licensing regime needs a UK export licence to leave Great Britain for a destination outside the United Kingdom. Arts Council England administers the system. Once a licence is granted, an exporter attaches it to the customs declaration for the National Clearance Hub to check. In this case the minister has delayed the decision on the application, leaving time for potential buyers to come forward before an export licence can be granted.

The Reviewing Committee on the Export of Works of Art and Objects of Cultural Interest advises ministers on whether objects put forward for export are of national importance. The government said the bust met two of the Waverley criteria. The first concerns its connection to national history and life. The third concerns its significance for study. Here the committee’s reasoning relates to eighteenth-century British sculpture and the use of historic figures to express ideas about royalty and political legitimacy.

The first stage is for expressions of interest. The announcement also describes a period of 15 business days for the owner to consider offers at the end of that stage. A second deferral of four months would begin once an option agreement was signed. The intervening period is therefore a chance for a buyer to act, with the next stage conditional on the agreement. A potential route is for a museum to raise funds. Another is for a private buyer to purchase the work and donate it to a public collection.

Why did this bust draw the committee’s attention?

Edward, the son of Edward III, died in 1376, centuries before Rysbrack carved the sculpture. Its importance to the committee lies in what it shows about how Georgian Britain portrayed the medieval prince. The government places it in a series of eighteenth-century depictions that shaped later representations of him.

The dealer’s catalogue identifies the bust in an inventory of the State Bedroom at Warwick Castle in 1806 and records its sale at Sotheby’s in December 2005. The catalogue treats a commission from Frederick, Prince of Wales, as probable. The documented Warwick inventory and auction history are firmer points in the object’s provenance than the identity of the original patron.

Expressions of interest go through the advisory committee. For a museum or donor seeking to bring the privately held work into a public collection, that is the first step toward a purchase.