diff --git a/lily/pango-font.cc b/lily/pango-font.cc
index 053ce17143..0c171bc44e 100644
--- a/lily/pango-font.cc
+++ b/lily/pango-font.cc
@@ -382,7 +382,7 @@ Pango_font::pango_item_string_stencil (PangoGlyphItem const *glyph_item) const
       tail = SCM_CDRLOC (*tail);
     }
 
-  PangoFontDescription *descr = pango_font_describe (pa->font);
+  PangoFontDescription *descr = pango_context_get_font_description (context_);
   Real size = pango_font_description_get_size (descr)
               / (static_cast<Real> (PANGO_SCALE));
   pango_font_description_free (descr);