A National Trust property has launched a bid to keep hold of a painting which shows the house in the 1800s.

Ightham Mote is appealing for £100,000 to go towards the costs of keeping John Singer Sargent's 'A Game of Bowls' in its collection.

It was painted at the fourteenth century moated manor house in 1889 by the renowned artist as he visited the influential Palmer family during their short tenancy there.

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Sargent’s scene captures the real life scenario when General Jackson Palmer, the railway baron who founded Colorado Springs, and his family rented Ightham Mote from 1887-1890, and regularly hosted their literary and artistic circle of friends.

The painting shows key characters playing bowls on the North Lawn including Palmer’s wife ‘Queen’, daughter Elsie, friend Alma Strettell and Singer Sargent’s sister Violet.

The large-scale work is unique in providing a rare snapshot of nineteenth century social history, offering a window to a lesser-known period in the Mote’s past.

The mansion, cottages and garden are all still recognisable today.

The painting is now up for sale and Ightham Mote hopes to raise £100,000 by the end of 2017 towards the total cost to acquire it and keep it permanently at its original home for the nation.

In addition to the fundraising appeal at Ightham Mote, the Trust is making approaches to public bodies, private donors, charitable trusts and other organisations.

General Manager at Ightham Mote, Bernadette Gillow, said: "We have an exceptionally rare opportunity to restore a period painting that features Ightham Mote to the location in which it was painted, the view of which has little altered today.

"It would significantly enhance our collection - which is compiled mainly of non-indigenous objects – and enable us to explore a lesser-known period in the Mote's history."

As well as paving the way for Ightham Mote to explore new and different stories of its past, the work is significant for the National Trust’s own story at the moated manor.