SALVADOR Dali’s “erotic” lamps have been saved for the nation.

The “witty” lamps were originally designed for a surrealist home, Monkton House, in West Dean, West Sussex.

The Victoria and Albert Museum (V&A) has now acquired what it describes as “one of the most important examples of modern lighting ever designed in the UK”.

Experts previously described the lamps as “witty” and “erotic” and “everything one would expect of Dali”, with the “champagne cups” which form the objects resembling “female breasts”.

A temporary export bar was placed on the lamps, on the recommendation of the Reviewing Committee On The Export Of Works Of Art And Objects Of Cultural Interest, to keep them in the UK.

They were at risk of being exported unless a buyer could match the £425,000 asking price.

Dali and British collector Edward James designed the lamps, made from oversized brass champagne coupes, stacked on top of the other.

The lamps will be reunited with Dali’s Mae West Lips sofa at the V&A.

Christopher Wilk, keeper of furniture, textiles and fashion at the V&A, said: “These lamps are of outstanding significance to the history of modern design and surrealist art in Britain.”

Sir Peter Luff, chairman of the National Heritage Memorial Fund (NHMF), said: “The fund helps secure for the nation our most important and precious heritage at risk of being lost.

"These exquisite lamps, on the cusp of being sold to an overseas buyer, fit the bill exactly.”