Inheritance deals net public coffers £12m of antiques

The descendants of Robert Walpole, Britain's first Prime Minister, have given a £9m collection of artefacts to the Government in one of the largest inheritance tax deals in history.

Furniture and tapestries from Houghton Hall, in Norfolk, including beds with original upholstery dating from the construction of the house in the 1720s, have been handed over in lieu of tax by Lord Cholmondeley after four years of negotiation with the Inland Revenue. The two suites of furniture and three sets of tapestries now belong to the Victoria and Albert Museum and will be on public display from Easter to September in their original rooms at Houghton Hall.

The house was built by Walpole after he became First Lord of the Treasury in 1715, an office he made so powerful it became known as Prime Minister. He reached the exalted position despite being impeached for corruption and jailed in 1712. He assembled an outstanding collection of Old Masters at the hall, most of which were sold after his death to Catherine the Great in 1779.

Lord Cholmondeley has previously been criticised for selling off parts of the estate, including a Holbein painting, Lady with a Squirrel, which was bought by the National Gallery for £10m in 1992, and a collection of French porcelain, furniture and paintings sold at Christie's for £21m in 1994.

The deal with Lord Cholmondeley was one of a series of acceptance-in-lieu agreements totalling £12m announced by the Arts minister, Baroness Blackstone, yesterday. Other works accepted included one of the few John Constable paintings that had remained in private hands. Harwich Lighthouse, worth £840,000, which was painted in the late 1810s.

There is also a work by the French artist Pierre Subleyras entitled Diana and Endymion, which is worth £630,000. It will hang in the National Gallery until a permanent home is found.

Other artefacts previously accepted as payments were allocated to specific galleries yesterday, including Portrait of an Unknown Man by the 16th-century artist Tintoretto which will be displayed at Leighton House Museum in London.