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Stern's Arab Priest stays in Middle East

21 Nov 2011

Irma Stern's Arab Priest artwork is set to go to Qatar's Orientalist Museum after a meeting of the South African Heritage Resources Agency (SAHRA). The deadlock between SAHRA and Qatar Museums Authority (QMA) over the export permission of exporting Irma Stern's "Arab Priest" that sold for R26.6 million at Bonham's earlier this year, seems to be broken, with SAHRA set to grant QMA a temporary permit application after the meeting in Cape Town.

The appeal process that the QMA was to embark after the painting was banned from leaving the country has been suspended pending the outcome of the temporary permit application. The outcome of the application is expected shortly, stated the SAHRA press release.

In this landmark case, SAHRA has played its strongest role in exercising its mandate to have the ability on preventing the export of cultural items more than 60 years old from South Africa. The case is being followed by overseas auction houses selling works of South African art that are still in the country. Previously Bonham's was granted a temporary export permit to show Stern's Arab Priest in London. The work then sold for a record breaking R26.6 million to an undisclosed buyer which later transpired to be the Qatar Museum.