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A simple horse doodle by Spanish artist Pablo Picasso has failed to sell at auction in Britain.

The work, which Picasso drew using felt-tipped pen on December 12, 1960, had been expected to fetch £12,000 to £18,000 ($NZ40,000).

The doodle, drawn on a page ripped out of a 1959 book of photographs of Picasso by American photographer David Douglas Duncan, came up for auction on October 1 at Duke’s Auctioneers, in Dorchester, Dorset.

Assistant auctioneer and valuer Amy Brenan said the work attracted several bids but did not reach reserve. “No-one was prepared to go all the way to secure it,” she told Horsetalk.

Brenan said it was an attractive doodle, but some potential bidders might have preferred that the drawing had been on proper art paper and not a page from a book.

The drawing was offered with a statement of authenticity from Maya Widmaier Picasso, who is the artist’s daughter.

The doodle is part of a private collection held in Wiltshire, England