An 18th century marble sculpture, bought 100 years ago in Scotland for just £5, is about to be sold for £2.5 million. The work, created by sculptor Edmé Bouchardon, who was from the court of French King Louis XV, was considered “lost” for decades until it was rediscovered as a door weight in a warehouse.
The bust depicts Sir John Gordon, a landowner and former secretary for Scotland, and was sculpted by Bouchardon in 1728 while Gordon was in Rome. The sculptor’s neoclassical works are part of the Palace of Versailles and left their mark in Paris with the Fountain of the Four Seasons.
The bust remained in the Gordon family estate at Invergordon Castle for more than two centuries. After the castle was sold in the 1920s, the sculpture was purchased by a local council at auction in 1930. Its historical importance was forgotten, and the piece disappeared for decades until it was found in 1998.
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The item has since been held by the Highland Council as it was too expensive to hold for public display. The proposal to sell the bust was initially put forward in 2014, but was met with resistance, with some art historians arguing that the piece should be loaned to Scottish museums. In 2023, the council received a bid from an overseas buyer through auction house Sotheby’s, who offered more than £2.5 million for the item, beating a previous estimate of £1.4 million.
The local government held a public consultation to allow residents to comment on the sale of the sculpture, in accordance with Scottish legislation governing the allocation of assets classified as “common property”. The council promised that any funds raised from the sale would go to the Invergordon Common Good Fund, which provides grants to support local projects.
Among the 70 responses to the public consultation, 48 were in favor of selling the sculpture. Local councilor Maxine Smith believes the interest generated by the sale could be up to £125,000 a year, which would be reinvested in the local community.
