diff --git a/bindings/python-cffi/notmuch2/_message.py b/bindings/python-cffi/notmuch2/_message.py
index a460d8c1..aa1cb875 100644
--- a/bindings/python-cffi/notmuch2/_message.py
+++ b/bindings/python-cffi/notmuch2/_message.py
@@ -371,14 +371,14 @@ class Message(base.NotmuchObject):
         This method will only work if the message was created from a
         thread.  Otherwise it will yield no results.
 
-        :returns: An iterator yielding :class:`Message` instances.
+        :returns: An iterator yielding :class:`OwnedMessage` instances.
         :rtype: MessageIter
         """
         # The notmuch_messages_valid call accepts NULL and this will
         # become an empty iterator, raising StopIteration immediately.
         # Hence no return value checking here.
         msgs_p = capi.lib.notmuch_message_get_replies(self._msg_p)
-        return MessageIter(self, msgs_p, db=self._db)
+        return MessageIter(self, msgs_p, db=self._db, msg_cls=OwnedMessage)
 
     def __hash__(self):
         return hash(self.messageid)
diff --git a/test/T392-python-cffi-notmuch.sh b/test/T392-python-cffi-notmuch.sh
new file mode 100755
index 00000000..15c8fc6b
--- /dev/null
+++ b/test/T392-python-cffi-notmuch.sh
@@ -0,0 +1,48 @@
+#!/usr/bin/env bash
+test_description="python bindings (notmuch test suite)"
+. $(dirname "$0")/test-lib.sh || exit 1
+
+if [ $NOTMUCH_HAVE_PYTHON3_CFFI -eq 0 -o $NOTMUCH_HAVE_PYTHON3_PYTEST -eq 0 ]; then
+    test_done
+fi
+
+add_email_corpus
+
+cat <<EOF > recurse.py
+from notmuch2 import Database
+def show_msgs(msgs, level):
+    print('{:s} {:s}'.format(' ' * level*4, type(msgs).__name__))
+    for msg in msgs:
+        print('{:s} {:s}'.format(' ' * (level*4+2), type(msg).__name__))
+        replies=msg.replies()
+        show_msgs(replies, level+1)
+db = Database(config=Database.CONFIG.SEARCH)
+msg=db.find("87ocn0qh6d.fsf@yoom.home.cworth.org")
+threads = db.threads(query="thread:"+msg.threadid)
+thread = next (threads)
+show_msgs(thread, 0)
+EOF
+
+test_begin_subtest "recursive traversal of replies (no crash)"
+test_python < recurse.py
+error=$?
+test_expect_equal "${error}" 0
+
+test_begin_subtest "recursive traversal of replies (output)"
+test_python < recurse.py
+tail -n 10 < OUTPUT > OUTPUT.sample
+cat <<EOF > EXPECTED
+   OwnedMessage
+     MessageIter
+   OwnedMessage
+     MessageIter
+       OwnedMessage
+         MessageIter
+   OwnedMessage
+     MessageIter
+   OwnedMessage
+     MessageIter
+EOF
+test_expect_equal_file EXPECTED OUTPUT.sample
+
+test_done