diff --git a/dtale/app.py b/dtale/app.py
index b7579315..0ee31530 100644
--- a/dtale/app.py
+++ b/dtale/app.py
@@ -955,6 +955,7 @@ def get_instance(data_id):
 
 def offline_chart(
     df,
+    return_object=False,
     chart_type=None,
     query=None,
     x=None,
@@ -976,6 +977,8 @@ def offline_chart(
 
     :param df: integer string identifier for a D-Tale process's data
     :type df: :class:`pandas:pandas.DataFrame`
+    :param return_object: if True, return the plotly graph object for this chart
+    :type return_object: bool
     :param chart_type: type of chart, possible options are line|bar|pie|scatter|3d_scatter|surface|heatmap
     :type chart_type: str
     :param query: pandas dataframe query string
@@ -1014,6 +1017,7 @@ def offline_chart(
     """
     instance = startup(url=None, data=df, data_id=999, is_proxy=JUPYTER_SERVER_PROXY)
     output = instance.offline_chart(
+        return_object=return_object,
         chart_type=chart_type,
         query=query,
         x=x,
diff --git a/dtale/config.py b/dtale/config.py
index 8cd97db8..43beb817 100644
--- a/dtale/config.py
+++ b/dtale/config.py
@@ -87,11 +87,7 @@ def load_app_settings(config):
         getter="getboolean",
     )
     hide_main_menu = get_config_val(
-        config,
-        curr_app_settings,
-        "hide_main_menu",
-        section="app",
-        getter="getboolean",
+        config, curr_app_settings, "hide_main_menu", section="app", getter="getboolean"
     )
     hide_column_menus = get_config_val(
         config,
diff --git a/dtale/dash_application/charts.py b/dtale/dash_application/charts.py
index 29afe0c7..67c893a9 100644
--- a/dtale/dash_application/charts.py
+++ b/dtale/dash_application/charts.py
@@ -612,12 +612,7 @@ def build_url(path, query):
                 export_png_link,
                 export_csv_link,
             ],
-            style={
-                "position": "absolute",
-                "zIndex": 5,
-                "left": 5,
-                "top": 2,
-            },
+            style={"position": "absolute", "zIndex": 5, "left": 5, "top": 2},
         )
         return html.Div(
             [links] + make_list(chart), style={"position": "relative", "height": "100%"}
@@ -4010,25 +4005,26 @@ def clean_output(output):
             find_figures(output, formatted_output)
             output = formatted_output
         if isinstance(output, dcc.Graph):
-            output = output.figure
             if inputs.get("title"):
-                output["layout"]["title"] = dict(text=inputs.get("title"))
-            output["layout"]["colorway"] = px.colors.qualitative.D3
-            output["layout"]["plot_bgcolor"] = "white"
-            output["layout"]["xaxis"].update(
+                output.figure["layout"]["title"] = dict(text=inputs.get("title"))
+            output.figure["layout"]["colorway"] = px.colors.qualitative.D3
+            output.figure["layout"]["plot_bgcolor"] = "white"
+            output.figure["layout"]["xaxis"].update(
                 mirror=True,
                 ticks="outside",
                 showline=True,
                 linecolor="black",
                 gridcolor="lightgrey",
             )
-            output["layout"]["yaxis"].update(
+            output.figure["layout"]["yaxis"].update(
                 mirror=True,
                 ticks="outside",
                 showline=True,
                 linecolor="black",
                 gridcolor="lightgrey",
             )
+            if inputs.get("return_object") is not True:
+                output = output.figure
         return output
 
     def _raw_chart_builder():
diff --git a/dtale/views.py b/dtale/views.py
index db2c7da3..7d09e4ff 100644
--- a/dtale/views.py
+++ b/dtale/views.py
@@ -584,6 +584,7 @@ def notebook_charts(
 
     def offline_chart(
         self,
+        return_object=False,
         chart_type=None,
         query=None,
         x=None,
@@ -605,6 +606,8 @@ def offline_chart(
         """
         Builds the HTML for a plotly chart figure to saved to a file or output to a jupyter notebook
 
+        :param return_object: if True, return the plotly graph object for this chart
+        :type return_object: bool
         :param chart_type: type of chart, possible options are line|bar|pie|scatter|3d_scatter|surface|heatmap
         :type chart_type: str
         :param query: pandas dataframe query string
@@ -645,6 +648,7 @@ def offline_chart(
                  - otherwise it will return the HTML output as a string
         """
         params = dict(
+            return_object=return_object,
             chart_type=chart_type,
             query=query,
             x=x,
@@ -672,6 +676,9 @@ def offline_chart(
             iplot(chart)
             return
 
+        if return_object:
+            return build_raw_chart(self._data_id, export=True, **params)
+
         html_str = export_chart(self._data_id, params)
         if filepath is None:
             return html_str
diff --git a/tests/dtale/test_offline_chart.py b/tests/dtale/test_offline_chart.py
index 0dbcb8aa..a5bdd972 100644
--- a/tests/dtale/test_offline_chart.py
+++ b/tests/dtale/test_offline_chart.py
@@ -105,3 +105,23 @@ def test_build_notebook(test_data):
         assert output is None
         init_notebook_mode_mock.assert_called_once()
         iplot_mock.assert_called_once()
+
+
+@pytest.mark.unit
+def test_output_object(test_data):
+    from dtale import offline_chart
+    from dtale.dash_application import dcc
+
+    with ExitStack() as stack:
+        stack.enter_context(
+            mock.patch("dtale.views.in_ipython_frontend", mock.Mock(return_value=False))
+        )
+        output = offline_chart(
+            test_data,
+            return_object=True,
+            chart_type="bar",
+            x="date",
+            y="foo",
+            agg="sum",
+        )
+        assert isinstance(output, dcc.Graph)
diff --git a/tests/dtale/test_views.py b/tests/dtale/test_views.py
index b5ad343c..1c1e3839 100644
--- a/tests/dtale/test_views.py
+++ b/tests/dtale/test_views.py
@@ -752,8 +752,7 @@ def test_duplicate_cols(unittest):
         build_dtypes(dtypes)
 
         resp = c.get(
-            "/dtale/duplicate-col/{}".format(c.port),
-            query_string=dict(col="b"),
+            "/dtale/duplicate-col/{}".format(c.port), query_string=dict(col="b")
         )
         unittest.assertEquals(
             list(global_state.get_data(c.port).columns), ["a", "b", "b_2", "c"]