Turner painting can’t leave yet

A watercolor by landscape painter J.M.W. Turner that sold at auction three months ago for $11 million -- a record for a British watercolor -- has been temporarily barred from export, officials said Thursday.

“The Blue Rigi: Lake of Lucerne, Sunrise” was purchased June 5 by an anonymous telephone bidder during a sale at Christie’s auction house.

Under British law, the country’s culture department can impose a temporary ban on the export of a work considered to be a national treasure, and British cultural institutions have two months to express a serious interest in buying it. The agency did that Thursday.