Salvador Dalí tea set for V&A

Salvador Dalí turned his talents to many things, including the design of an English tea service. The Royal Crown Derby set was commissioned in 1938 by the artist’s eccentric aristocratic patron, Edward James, along with a lobster telephone and a Mae West lips sofa. The bone china tea service has pink gloved hands and trailing foliage set against a blue ground. The Victoria and Albert Museum acquired the set at Sotheby’s on 22 February, for £10,800. It will be shown in “Surreal Things” next March.