Bonhams has announced it will sell The Portrait of Henry Callender by Lemuel Francis Abbott, described as "the most famous golfing painting in the world".

Dating from the late 18th / early 19th century, the portrait is one of the earliest known major golf paintings and has spent more than 150 years hung in the club house of the Royal Blackheath Golf Club, itself one of the oldest golf clubs in the world.

The painting first found fame in 1812, when it was the subject of a mezzotint print, and then again in the early 20th century when that print was widely republished in colour.

The portrait depicts Henry Callender, an expatriate Scot, wearing the uniform of a Captain General of the Blackheath Society of Golfers – an honorary title bestowing a position which is part chairman, secretary, president and law maker within the club. Callender was Captain of the club three times, and served as Secretary for 17 years.

"From what we read about Harry Callender we can picture an expatriate Scot who was both connoisseur and sociable bon-viveur," said Andrew McKenzie, Bonhams Director of Old Master Paintings.

"[He was]a character who would most surely have enjoyed the last two hundred years in which he had the privilege of looking down on the Royal Blackheath's famous 'Wee Dinners' in which haggis, a quaich of whisky, much toasting and often a song or two have been enjoyed before guests and members are invited to show off their pitching skills in a game of closest to the hole, played from the dining room table, through the window to the 18th green below."

The iconic painting is expected to sell for £600,000-£800,000 ($905,670-$1,207,560), and will be offered alongside an antique putter – believed to be the very one held by Callender in the painting – valued at £50,000-£80,000 ($75,470-$120,750).

The two lots will be offered as part of the Bonhams Old Master Paintings sale in London on December 9.