ARTS Minister Tessa Blackstone has placed a temporary bar on the export of four Georgian library open armchairs from Hagley Hall.

An unnamed overseas purchaser has made a firm offer to buy the chairs and take them out of the country.

The export bar provides a last chance to raise the money to keep the items - valued in excess of £600,000 - in the United Kingdom.

The Minister's ruling follows recommendations by the Reviewing Committee on the Export of Works of Art that the export of the chairs should be deferred.

She said it reflects the chairs' direct link with Hagley Hall, the home of Lord Cobham, and their "rare and aesthetically pleasing use of contrasting woods in their design".

Ms Blackstone said they are also important for study as part of a skilful ensemble of Rococo decoration presented at the hall near Kidderminster.

The deferral will enable purchase offers to be made at or above the £612,262.50 valuation of the four George III mahogany and pearwood library open armchairs.

Anyone interested has until Tuesday, January 15 next year to make an offer.

The deferral period could be extended until after April 15, 2002, if there is a serious intention to raise funds with a view to making an offer.

The chairs are part of a larger set of 14 chairs, one square-framed settee and one scroll-end settee which were made for the Long Gallery at Hagley Hall.

The Hall and its park are regarded as being among the supreme achievements of mid-18th Century English architecture and landscape gardening.

They are the creation of George, 1st Lord Lyttelton, Secretary to Frederick, Prince of Wales.

The seats were made for the largest of the series of rooms of entertainment at Hagley, and are described as "appropriately generous in their proportions".

Although a fire in 1925 destroyed much of the library and an important set of japanned chairs and breakfast table, it did not seriously affect the interiors of the hall, saloon, drawing room, long gallery and dining room.