At least £40,000 expected to catch on today auction a clay catwhich together with other objects was donated by David Hockneywhile still a student, to a couple who offered him shelter when, while hitchhiking, he got caught in a storm.

Essex-based Stacey’s Auctioneers and Valuers is putting the rare clay cat under the hammer along with two hand-painted cards and a large earthenware shallow bowl that the artist designed with Norman Stevens. The works were donated by Hockney to Peter Richards and his wife, Wendy, in 1955.

As a student at Bradford School of Art, Hockney often traveled with his fellow students around the UK to see exhibitions and donated his art to people he met. One Sunday, Hockney and Stevens were hitchhiking to see an exhibition in London when a storm found them in the Bedfordshire area. To escape the downpour, the two young artists ducked under the shed of Richards’ farmhouse; spotting the drenched, the couple invited them into the house, made them tea, and Mrs. Richards dried their clothes, according to auction house in a post on its Facebook page.

“Hockney cultivated friendly relations with the Richards and later presented them with a clay representation of a black and white cat, expressing his gratitude for their kindness on that rainy Sunday afternoon“, continues the house. In addition, over the years, she wrote and sent them drawings and handmade greeting cards. “I really don’t know what to do with the cat,” Hockney wrote to Richards before sending them the sculpture, according to the BBC. “The postman said it would be risky unless packed well with plenty of straw and sawdust. I think we’ll wait and I’ll bring the cat and the dishes myself».

From Stacey’s Auctioneers and Valuers, Peter Richards of Thorpe Bay, Essex, now in his ninth decade, has decided to sell the cat and other works to benefit younger members of his family.