Interesting question/suggestion--I doubt that the current framework can support this since the "Excel" export is just a CSV format. Maybe after we get "real" XLSX support. : )

I did find one way to do what you are asking, however. It is a little kludgy but seems to work.

a) Make a report with the Images column + other columns you want.
b) Export that report to PDF. It should show the images in table format.
c) Using Adobe Acrobat (other PDF software might work as well), convert the PDF report into an Excel spreadsheet.
d) Open the converted document in Excel. Select all cells in the table and un-merge them (on Home, Alignment ribbon tab). This is important; you won't be able to sort the table at all unless you do it. And if you copy/paste into Word, you'll never be able to find the merged cells in the Word table.
e) Select one of the images in your Excel table; then hit CTRL-A to select all of them.
f) Right-click one of the images you've selected and select "Size and Properties..."
g) In the sidebar that appears, expand "Properies" and select "Move and size with cells" or "Move but don't size with cells." You'll want to experiment to see which you prefer.
h) Select the entire range of data and then go to Home...Sort & Filter and select "Filter" to turn it into a sortable table.

Word is actually a better choice for this, I think, since a Word table will let you sort it but will also retain the row heights for the sorted rows, thereby preserving the appearance of each row in the sorted table.

Cheers,
Christian