Gallery in 'significant purchase'

The Wunderkammer is based on the dimensions of Mima

A Teesside art gallery is celebrating its most significant purchase since it opened in January 2007.

Middlesbrough's Institute of Modern Art (Mima) spent almost £100,000 to acquire Wunderkammer by Edmund de Waal.

Bosses were keen to get the work as its proportions are based on the size of the gallery doors and viewing windows.

Officials managed to negotiate a big discount on the £180,000 asking price and received grants from the Art Fund and the Northern Rock Foundation.

Curator James Beighton said: "This purchase is an unparalleled achievement for Mima.

"We have been able to acquire a major piece by one of this country's most important artists, and one with special relevance to Mima.

"This will give our audiences an invaluable insight into the development of an artist's ideas, and secures Mima's position as having one of the foremost collections of ceramic art in Britain."

Wunderkammer was first shown in de Waal's solo show at Mima last year.