diff --git a/lib/matplotlib/image.py b/lib/matplotlib/image.py
index 65fb94f4393a..17760b7547dc 100644
--- a/lib/matplotlib/image.py
+++ b/lib/matplotlib/image.py
@@ -574,6 +574,11 @@ def __init__(self, ax,
                                 **kwargs
                                 )
 
+    def get_window_extent(self, renderer=None):
+        x0, x1, y0, y1 = self._extent
+        bbox = Bbox.from_extents([x0, y0, x1, y1])
+        return bbox.transformed(self.axes.transData)
+
     def make_image(self, magnification=1.0):
         if self._A is None:
             raise RuntimeError('You must first set the image'
diff --git a/lib/matplotlib/tests/test_image.py b/lib/matplotlib/tests/test_image.py
index 01f342051666..4d80b16fbd55 100644
--- a/lib/matplotlib/tests/test_image.py
+++ b/lib/matplotlib/tests/test_image.py
@@ -335,6 +335,28 @@ def test_bbox_image_inverted():
     axes.add_artist(bbox_im)
 
 
+@cleanup
+def test_get_window_extent_for_AxisImage():
+    # Create a figure of known size (1000x1000 pixels), place an image
+    # object at a given location and check that get_window_extent()
+    # returns the correct bounding box values (in pixels).
+
+    im = np.array([[0.25, 0.75, 1.0, 0.75], [0.1, 0.65, 0.5, 0.4], \
+        [0.6, 0.3, 0.0, 0.2], [0.7, 0.9, 0.4, 0.6]])
+    fig = plt.figure(figsize=(10, 10), dpi=100)
+    ax = plt.subplot()
+    ax.set_position([0, 0, 1, 1])
+    ax.set_xlim(0, 1)
+    ax.set_ylim(0, 1)
+    im_obj = ax.imshow(im, extent=[0.4, 0.7, 0.2, 0.9], interpolation='nearest')
+
+    fig.canvas.draw()
+    renderer = fig.canvas.renderer
+    im_bbox = im_obj.get_window_extent(renderer)
+
+    assert_array_equal(im_bbox.get_points(), [[400, 200], [700, 900]])
+
+
 if __name__=='__main__':
     import nose
     nose.runmodule(argv=['-s','--with-doctest'], exit=False)