diff --git a/src/cairo-scaled-font-private.h b/src/cairo-scaled-font-private.h
index 6fd772bdb..bcc13bdc8 100644
--- a/src/cairo-scaled-font-private.h
+++ b/src/cairo-scaled-font-private.h
@@ -107,7 +107,7 @@ struct _cairo_scaled_font {
     cairo_font_extents_t fs_extents; /* font space */
 
     /* The mutex protects modification to all subsequent fields. */
-    cairo_mutex_t mutex;
+    cairo_recursive_mutex_t mutex;
 
     cairo_hash_table_t *glyphs;
     cairo_list_t glyph_pages;
diff --git a/src/cairo-scaled-font.c b/src/cairo-scaled-font.c
index 7d556036e..a1728def3 100755
--- a/src/cairo-scaled-font.c
+++ b/src/cairo-scaled-font.c
@@ -788,7 +788,7 @@ _cairo_scaled_font_init (cairo_scaled_font_t               *scaled_font,
     cairo_font_face_reference (font_face);
     scaled_font->original_font_face = NULL;
 
-    CAIRO_MUTEX_INIT (scaled_font->mutex);
+    CAIRO_RECURSIVE_MUTEX_INIT (scaled_font->mutex);
 
     cairo_list_init (&scaled_font->dev_privates);