A PAINTING that was ­missing for almost a century is expected to fetch a six-figure sum at auction when it is offered for sale alongside work by some of the biggest names in 20th-century British art.

John Duncan Fergusson's painting Poise had not been seen since it was exhibited in London in 1918 until it was found by its present owners, a brother and sister, who were clearing the attic of their home.

The work, by the Leith-born experimental Scottish Colourist painter, dates to 1916 and is valued at about £120,000.

It will be offered for sale in the Modern British and Irish art sale at Christie's King Street showroom in central London next month along with another of Fergusson's works found alongside it, which is predicted to fetch about £60,000.