Two ancient Roman mosaics worth £560,000 ($700,000) have been temporarily barred from leaving the U.K., buying time for a domestic public collection to acquire them. A potential interested buyer has until February 19, 2025 to raise the necessary funds to purchase one or both of the mosaics.
The fourth century treasures were discovered at a Roman villa in Hampshire, outside London, in 1904. Both mosaics have unique patterns marked out in purplish-brown and red tiles on a white background. One of these is a “running pelta” design made from an arrangement of crescent-shaped elements while the other is a more bold, geometric design resembling a city wall beside a simple pattern of alternating rectangles.
At one time, these mosaics paved a corridor linking the building’s east and west sides. After they were discovered, they were moved to nearby Fullerton Manor.
“These mosaics dating back to the fourth century provide a rare insight into the local history of Hampshire during Roman Britain, shaping our understanding of life in the countryside during this period,” said the U.K.’s arts minister Sir Chris Bryant.
Bryant made the decision to temporarily defer to grant the ancient pieces an export license at the recommendation of the official Reviewing Committee on the Exports of Art and Objects of Cultural Interest. These experts noted the rarity of intact mosaics from the period. They hope the pieces may be able to unlock new insights into the role of rural houses in Roman Britain.
“Made of thousands of tiny blocks of stone called tesserae laid together to create patterns or figural scenes, [mosaics] conjure up a sophisticated lifestyle in graceful houses, where the rich displayed their wealth and power,” said Tim Pestell, of the Reviewing Committee that advised the U.K. government on the work. “Although many have been revealed through excavations in Britain, the number that survive intact is tiny.”
“Further analysis has much to tell us about the commissioner and makers of not only these mosaics, but others from the Empire,” he added. “The ways in which they were used, the trade networks exploited for their materials and above all, their breathtaking beauty can only be fully realized if these intricate pieces can be saved for the public by a museum.”
If any potential buyers come forward by February 19, the current owners will have a period of 15 business days to consider their offers.
Earlier this month, the Ashmolean Museum in Oxford acquired a Fra Angelico altarpiece that had been temporarily barred from leaving the country in January, after a foreign buyer had been found for the Renaissance treasure.
Over the summer, the V&A in London acquired a medieval ivory statue that had already been privately purchased by the Met in New York but was saved for the nation after it was put under an export deferral in January. The U.K. has also temporarily barred the export of visionary British mathematician and computer scientist Alan Turing’s notebooks.