Block put on £8m Venus statue

The statue was sold to pay for repairs to a stately home

The British Government has placed a temporary export ban on a Roman statue of Venus in the hope that it can be bought for the nation.

The statue known as Jenkins Venus was bought at auction earlier in the year by an anonymous foreign buyer for a record £7.9m.

The Roman statue had formed the centrepiece of a gallery in Newby Hall in North Yorkshire, but was sold to pay for the refurbushiment of the stately home.

Now arts minister Estelle Morris has put a ban on the piece leaving the UK to allow time for money to be raised to buy the antiquity.

The marble statue, described as being of "outstanding significance", has been dated to circa late 1st/mid-2nd Century AD and is a Roman copy of a Hellenistic original of 2nd Century BC.

Every effort

The Reviewing Committee on the Export of Works of Art, which advises the government on such matters, has given the Jenkins Venus a rare starred rating, meaning "every possible effort should be made to raise funds to retain it in the country".

The export ban extends to 7 October and a deferral period of 7 April 2004 could be imposed if a serious offer to buy the statue is received.

Prospective buyers would have to pay in the region of £8.1m, including VAT, to secure its home in the UK.

The statue was originally bought in Rome in 1765 from dealer Thomas Jenkins by William Weddell, the then owner of Newby Hall, who embarked on a tour of Europe to find artefacts to fill his proposed scultpure gallery.