A selection of work by one of Suffolk’s most celebrated artists could fetch tens of thousand of pounds at auction after emerging from years of being kept in a garden shed.

East Anglian Daily Times: Sir Alfred Munnings in a photograph which hangs in Framlingham College.Sir Alfred Munnings in a photograph which hangs in Framlingham College.

The pieces by Sir Alfred Munnings were among a car load of prints and paintings taken along to a valuation day just an hour’s drive from the artist’s former home of Mendham, near Harleston.

According to Bonhams expert Daniel Wright, who valued the items at the auctioneers Reepham office in Norfolk, the owner had stored them in his shed until having a clear out and seeing what they might be worth.

Among the pieces is a watercolour of cows grazing in front of hay wagons, expected to sell for between £8,000 and £12,000 at Bonhams East Anglian Picture Sale, in London, on November 18.

Mr Wright said: “Most of the pictures were prints of little value, so I was astonished when the Munnings emerged. It was just about the last picture to be brought out of the car and it came as a great surprise.

“Fortunately, it must have been a dry shed and the picture is in good condition.”

The watercolour is one of four works by Munnings in the sale, including a pen and ink self portrait estimated at £3,000-£5,000 and an oil portrait of a Hackney horse worth £20,000-£30,000, thought to have been painted for his aunt, Polly Hill.

Other highlights include a painting by Sir Edward Seago of his home village of Ludham in winter, as well as a rare depiction by John Nash of his Wormingford farmhouse near Colchester.

Previews take place at The Guildhall, Bury St Edmunds, next Thursday, and at St Michael’s Hall, Reepham, the following Tuesday and Wednesday.