They were part of the collection owned by Yves Saint Laurent and his partner Pierre Berge.

The sculptures have already been in the news this year, when they were put up for auction in February, despite protests from Beijing.

A Chinese collector bid 15.7 million euros ( $23m, ?14m ) for them, but subsequently refused to pay, leaving the bronzes to sit in a safe.

Chou Kung-shin, director of Taiwan's National Palace Museum, said she had met Mr Berge but no deal to exhibit the bronzes had been reached.

"In accordance with professional museum ethics, we can't collect disputed artefacts," she told reporters.

"I wanted to give them to the Taiwan museum, but they didn't want to create a bone of contention... with mainland China," Mr Berge told a French radio station on Monday.