Valuable bust 'found in shed' could still be sold overseas, says council

An 18th Century sculpture valued at more than £3m could be sold to an overseas buyer if a museum fails to raise the funds to buy it.

The bust of Highland landowner and MP Sir John Gordon was made by Edmé Bouchardon, whose other works have been exhibited in the Louvre in Paris and J Paul Getty Museum in Los Angeles.

It lay forgotten in local authority storage for years - and was claimed to have been found propping open the door of a garden shed - before it was put up for sale by Highland Council.

Invergordon Naval Museum and Heritage Centre wants to buy the artwork, but a new report said if it did not have funds needed by 1 December the council could proceed with a sale to an overseas buyer.

The profits of the sale are to go to Invergordon, a town named after the Gordon family.

There is a temporary ban preventing the marble bust from going abroad to give the museum the chance to purchase it.

But the report to next week's meeting of Highland Council's Black Isle and Easter Ross committee said the sale to a prospective overseas buyer could go ahead if the museum's bid was unsuccessful.

Highland Council looks after the sculpture on behalf of Invergordon Common Good Fund.

Councillors approved the sale in 2024 with the money raised to be put towards a community fund.

Invergordon Naval Museum and Heritage Centre must raise £3.1m by 1 December under the terms of a sale agreement, but in August it said it was struggling to secure grants.

"Highland Council's rush to monetise a common good asset has completely broken the system," a spokesperson for the museum said.

"The council has created a nightmare scenario where the community is punished for the council's own unethical sales process."

The spokesperson added: "We are expected to raise more than £3m to buy back our own property, while being barred from the very grant funds built to preserve national treasures."

Trustees are urging Scottish ministers to intervene and have launched an online crowdfunding campaign.

Highland Council said it had followed all relevant legal, governance and decision-making processes.

It said it had carried out a statutory public consultation, adding that "a majority of respondents" had been in favour of the sale.

The council added that it had made an application to a sheriff court seeking authorisation to sell the bust.

It said no objections were received during that process and the sheriff approved the proposed sale.

The Scottish government said it was aware of concerns raised regarding the Bouchardon Bust.

A spokesperson said: "Common good assets are administered by local authorities under their own statutory responsibilities, though we take seriously the duty to ensure consultation requirements under the Community Empowerment (Scotland) Act 2015 are properly observed."

"We are engaging with the relevant parties to get the full information to determine the appropriate next steps."

The bust depicts Sir John Gordon whose family owned large areas of land in Sutherland and Ross-shire and established the town of Invergordon on the Cromarty Firth.

Gordon was a young man travelling through continental Europe when he met the renowned artist Edmé Bouchardon in Rome in 1728 and the sculpture was made.

Invergordon Town Council bought the marble bust for £5 in 1930, but it was later placed in storage at an industrial estate.

It was claimed it was used to prop open the door of a shed.

When the value of the bust eventually came to be fully appreciated, Highland Council decided to sell it with the funds raised to go towards helping the community of Invergordon.