The double sided sketches in pen and ink comprising of a series of surrealist dogs, the central hound being anthropomorphic, and titled ‘Puppysim’ lower right, verso a sketch of a demon or an unsuspecting Mephistopheles sat at a grand table with a goblet of wine which is being syphered out from the bottom by a thief, with a shrouded figure amidst a gothic arch to the background, the whole unsigned but by a very good hand and surviving from the early twentieth century.

The condition is clean throughout, though as this has been removed from a sketch book at some stage it does suffer from losses to its edges as photographed. The glazed frame is contemporary. The paper helps to date the works.

Similar to works by James Ensor 1860-1949, Renato Guedes, Fernando Fernandez and French caricaturist Jean Ignace Isidore Gérard (1803-1847) meeting success in their time with drawings depicting human figures with animal faces. Their work is considered to have influenced other illustrators like Tenniel (Alice in Wonderland) and the surrealists. It is of Ensor’s works that these sketches are most aligned to and would be stunning if found to be by his hand.

A highly intriguing and interesting work that most certainly merits further research.