diff --git a/src/cairo-scaled-font-subsets.c b/src/cairo-scaled-font-subsets.c
index 7d89abc02..ee29f89aa 100644
--- a/src/cairo-scaled-font-subsets.c
+++ b/src/cairo-scaled-font-subsets.c
@@ -545,11 +545,21 @@ _cairo_scaled_font_subsets_map_glyph (cairo_scaled_font_subsets_t	*subsets,
     }
 
     /* Glyph not found. Determine whether the glyph is outline or
-     * bitmap and add to the appropriate subset */
-    status = _cairo_scaled_glyph_lookup (scaled_font,
-                                         scaled_font_glyph_index,
-					 CAIRO_SCALED_GLYPH_INFO_PATH,
-                                         &scaled_glyph);
+     * bitmap and add to the appropriate subset.
+     *
+     * glyph_index 0 (the .notdef glyph) is a special case. Some fonts
+     * will return CAIRO_INT_STATUS_UNSUPPORTED when doing a
+     * _scaled_glyph_lookup(_GLYPH_INFO_PATH). Type1-fallback creates
+     * empty glyphs in this case so we can put the glyph in a unscaled
+     * subset. */
+    if (scaled_font_glyph_index == 0) {
+	status = CAIRO_STATUS_SUCCESS;
+    } else {
+	status = _cairo_scaled_glyph_lookup (scaled_font,
+					     scaled_font_glyph_index,
+					     CAIRO_SCALED_GLYPH_INFO_PATH,
+					     &scaled_glyph);
+    }
     if (status && status != CAIRO_INT_STATUS_UNSUPPORTED)
         return status;