Antique objets d’art from the private Castle Howard collection, including Roman portrait sculptures and figures of gods and mythical characters, have been transferred to public ownership to settle a tax bill.
The collection of 89 items, worth £5,424,369, was acquired by the nation under a scheme to settle an inheritance tax bill in a deal with National Museums Liverpool.
The pieces, including cinerary urns and funerary monuments, will remain on display at the Castle Howard estate in North Yorkshire, which featured in the TV adaptation of Brideshead Revisited in the 1980s.
Nicholas Howard, who runs the 9,000 acre estate, transferred ownership of the collection to the public under the Acceptance in Lieu scheme, administered by the Arts Council, in order to settle the inheritance tax bill. It is not the first time that the Howard family has used its extensive collection to ward off tax bills.
In 2013 the custodians of the stately home won a tribunal battle to avoid paying tax on the £9.4 million sale of a Joshua Reynolds painting after a judge ruled that it was a piece of “plant or machinery” integral to attracting visitors.
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The majority of the latest collection to be sold was assembled by Henry Howard, Fourth Earl of Carlisle, on his Grand Tour of Europe.
Its highlights include a second-century head of the satyr Silenus crowned with ivy leaves and berries, and a Roman marble relief of a figure of a woman playing a tambourine.
The pieces give great insight into the collecting practices of British aristocrats and travellers of the period and reveal the enduring appeal of ancient Rome.
Nicholas Howard said that he was “pleased” with the agreement.