EDINBURGH, Scotland (Getty Images) -- Godffrey Evans, Principle Curator of European Applied Art, holds a Byzantine sardonyx bowl mounted on a 16th century gold stand the most valuable single object to enter National Museum of Scotland on July 17, 2012 in Edinburgh, Scotland.
Acquired from the estate of the late Edmund de Rothschild, the Hamilton-Rothschild tazza has been allocated to National Museums Scotland under the Acceptance in Lieu scheme, which allows donors to leave major works of art to the nation in lieu of inheritance tax.
It was one of six outstanding items from the Hamilton Palace collection sold to Alfred de Rothschild shortly before the sale of Scotland's greatest collection in 1882.
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(Photo by Jeff J Mitchell/Getty Images)