diff --git a/lib/matplotlib/backends/qt_compat.py b/lib/matplotlib/backends/qt_compat.py
index 26ddcc46c27e..ae72847e3187 100644
--- a/lib/matplotlib/backends/qt_compat.py
+++ b/lib/matplotlib/backends/qt_compat.py
@@ -117,7 +117,7 @@ def _setup_pyqt4_internal(api):
             for _sip_api in _sip_apis:
                 try:
                     sip.setapi(_sip_api, api)
-                except ValueError:
+                except (AttributeError, ValueError):
                     pass
         from PyQt4 import QtCore, QtGui
         import sip  # Always succeeds *after* importing PyQt4.