diff --git a/src/cairo-xlib-surface.c b/src/cairo-xlib-surface.c
index 029a542..f545021 100644
--- a/src/cairo-xlib-surface.c
+++ b/src/cairo-xlib-surface.c
@@ -840,13 +840,15 @@ _get_image_surface (cairo_xlib_surface_t    *surface,
 	 * retry, but to keep things simple, we just create a
 	 * temporary pixmap
 	 */
+	cairo_xlib_error_func_t old_handler;
 	Pixmap pixmap;
 	GC gc;
 
 	status = _cairo_xlib_surface_get_gc (display, surface, &gc);
 	if (unlikely (status))
-            goto BAIL;
+            goto BAIL2;
 
+	old_handler = XSetErrorHandler (_noop_error_handler);
 	pixmap = XCreatePixmap (display->display,
 				surface->drawable,
 				extents->width, extents->height,
@@ -873,12 +875,13 @@ _get_image_surface (cairo_xlib_surface_t    *surface,
 
 	    XFreePixmap (display->display, pixmap);
 	}
+	XSetErrorHandler (old_handler);
 
 	_cairo_xlib_surface_put_gc (display, surface, gc);
 
 	if (ximage == NULL) {
 	    status =  _cairo_error (CAIRO_STATUS_NO_MEMORY);
-            goto BAIL;
+            goto BAIL2;
         }
     }
 
@@ -1005,15 +1008,17 @@ _get_image_surface (cairo_xlib_surface_t    *surface,
     }
 
  BAIL:
+    if (unlikely (status)) 
+	cairo_surface_destroy (&image->base);
+
+ BAIL2:
     if (ximage)
         XDestroyImage (ximage);
 
     cairo_device_release (&display->base);
 
-    if (unlikely (status)) {
-	cairo_surface_destroy (&image->base);
+    if (unlikely (status))
 	return _cairo_surface_create_in_error (status);
-    }
 
     return &image->base;
 }