LONDON, March 22 (Xinhua) -- An export bar was placed Thursday on one of the world's most famous telephones to stop it from being exported to an overseas buyer.
Arts Minister Michael Ellis has placed the temporary export bar on the Lobster Telephone (White Aphrodisiac), by the celebrated artists Salvador Dalí and Edward James.
A search will now be launched to find a buyer willing to match a price tag of 1.25 million U.S. dollars that will stop it from going to an overseas buyer.
The sculpture is the last known example in Britain of the hand-painted white design. It is at risk of being exported unless a buyer can be found to match the asking price of 853,047 British pounds plus VAT.
Lobster Telephone was a collaboration between Dali, one of the 20th century's most influential artists, and his patron, English poet Edward James, who was known for his promotion of the Surrealist movement.
In total, 11 Lobster Telephones were commissioned by James in 1938. Of these, seven were hand-painted white and four were painted red. Each telephone was slightly different, meaning that each is unique.
The inspiration for the iconic piece came in 1936 when Dali, James and others were eating lobsters and one of the discarded shells landed on a telephone.
Edward James owned one of the finest private collections of surrealist work - including both versions of the Lobster Telephone - at Monkton, his country house in West Sussex. Today, the majority of the white versions are in museums abroad, including public collections in Rotterdam, Florida, Johannesburg, Minneapolis and Lisbon.
Arts Minister Michael Ellis said: "Salvador Dali was one of the greatest artists of the 20th Century. This iconic work was created in the UK, and I want it to remain here.
It is important that we keep world-class art in this country and I hope a buyer can be found to save it for the nation."
