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Tate Modern has bought eight million of Chinese artist Ai Weiwei's sunflower seeds work.

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The work, purchased for an undisclosed figure, makes up just under one tenth of the original 100 million porcelain sunflower seeds commissioned for the Tate's 2010's Unilever series.

The 100 million seeds were spread across the floor of Tate Modern's vast Turbine Hall from June 2011 to February 2012.

Shortly after, it was fenced off due to health and safety concerns over ceramic dust. The cordoned off work shattered the gallery's hopes of allowing guests to walk over the seeds.

Each porcelain seed had been hand crafted by skilled workers in Jingdezhen city, famous for the production of Chinese Imperial porcelain.

Sunflower seeds are traditionally a popular street snack in China, but to Ai Weiwei, the seeds have a political meaning.

Propaganda images of Chairman Mao as the sun and the people of China as sunflowers turned towards him were created during the Cultural Revolution.

It is thought the rest of the seeds will be returned to Ai Weiwei.

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