Film-maker Danny Boyle and the director of the Tate Gallery have written a letter criticizing the sale of a Henry Moore sculpture by a London council, BBC News reported.

Last month, Tower Hamlets Council announced it would sell the bronze sculpture Draped Seated Woman after "unprecedented" budget cuts.

But Sir Nicholas Serota and Boyle said the proposal "goes against the spirit of Henry Moore's original sale".

The figure, which could fetch £20m, was bought for £6,000 in 1960.

Moore, a well-known socialist, sold the sculpture at a fraction of its market value to the former London County Council on the understanding that it would be displayed in a public space and might enrich the lives of those living in a socially deprived area.

The bronze sculpture, nicknamed Old Flo, was installed on the Stifford council estate in 1962 but was vandalized and moved to the Yorkshire Sculpture Park in 1997.