One of Pablo Picasso's earliest works has been put under an export bar by the Government in the hope it can be kept in the UK.
Child with a Dove dates from 1901 and marks the beginning of Picasso's move into his celebrated Blue Period.
The temporary export bar - which will keep the painting in the country until December - provides a last chance to secure the recommended price of £50m for the oil painting.
The work, which depicts an image of a young child holding a dove next to a multi-coloured ball, was loaned to the National Gallery in 1974 but was taken off display last year.
It was sold by Christies auction house on behalf of the Aberconway family in Wales, who have owned the painting since 1947, to an unknown foreign buyer, and then loaned to the National Galleries of Scotland.
The export ban comes after a recommendation by the Reviewing Committee on the Export of Works of Art and Objects of Cultural Interest, governed by the Arts Council England .
Committee member Aidan Weston-Lewis said: "Child with a Dove is a much-loved painting whose iconic status, together with its long history in British collections - latterly on loan to public galleries, make it of outstanding importance to our national heritage."
The decision on the export licence application will be deferred until December 16. It can be extended to June 16 next year if "a serious intention" is confirmed to buy the painting at the recommended £50m.
Offers from public bodies for less than the recommended price may also be considered.
