Last chance to keep 'world class' Japanese porcelain from Princess Diana's childhood home
Ed Vaizey has placed a temporary export bar on a set of Imari lacquered garniture from Althorp
Ed Vaizey has placed a temporary export bar on a set of Imari lacquered garniture from Althorp, giving a last chance to raise the money to keep the set in the UK.
皇冠体育app 鈥檚 ruling follows a recommendation by the , administered by MLA. 皇冠体育app Committee recommended the export bar due both to the garniture鈥檚 outstanding aesthetic importance and to its outstanding significance for the study of Japanese export porcelain, the study of trade between Japan and Europe, and the study of the consumption of luxury goods in Britain. 皇冠体育app Committee awarded a 鈥渟tarred rating鈥� to the set, meaning that every possible effort should be made to raise enough money to keep it in the country.
Ultimate luxury item
This unusually large, rare and highly significant five-piece garniture, previously owned by the Spencer Family at , is a spectacularly decorated example of Imari-ware porcelain made in Arita in south-western Japan. Unusually, a large part of the porcelain鈥檚 surface is covered in black lacquer with mother-of-pearl and gold hiramaki-e (鈥渇lat sprinkled picture鈥�) decoration.聽This collection would have been the ultimate early 18th Century luxury item.
Lord Inglewood, Chairman of the Reviewing Committee, said:
鈥溁使谔逵齛ppse are truly remarkable objects of huge aesthetic importance. 皇冠体育appy are of global importance and a key set in the study of manufacturing techniques, European taste and trade between Japan and Britain in the late 17th and early 18th Centuries.鈥�
皇冠体育app decision on the export licence application for the garniture will be deferred for a period ending on 1 April 2011, which can be extended if a serious intention to raise funds toward the 拢109,250 purchase price is expressed.