Will the Victoria and Albert Museum get its hands after all on the fifteenth-century renaissance roundel from Mantua depicting Vulcan, Mars and Venus that it failed to secure at auction last year?

Apollo, Oct, 2004 by Samson Spanier

Will the Victoria and Albert Museum get its hands after all on the fifteenth-century renaissance roundel from Mantua depicting Vulcan, Mars and Venus that it failed to secure at auction last year? Unknown until a routine contents valuation in 2003, it sold for 7 million [pounds sterling] at Christie's, London. The buyer, widely believed to be Saud Al-Thani of Qatar, which APOLLO can now confirm, recently withdrew his application for an export license. There has been speculation that this may be so the owner can concentrate on winning an export license for the Clive of India treasures sold in April--although an auction-house source told APOLLO that it would be difficult in the current political climate for a museum to claim such Indian heritage as truly British. In any case, Mark Jones of the V&A told APOLLO that he has written to Saud asking for a loan of the roundel. He has not yet received a response.

[ILLUSTRATION OMITTED]