diff --git a/lib/matplotlib/axis.py b/lib/matplotlib/axis.py
index 8062ebc66e4a..6a9ceae5e124 100644
--- a/lib/matplotlib/axis.py
+++ b/lib/matplotlib/axis.py
@@ -340,7 +340,7 @@ def _apply_params(self, **kw):
                 # -> points. grab the integer from the `Text` object
                 # instead of saving the string representation
                 v = getattr(self.label1, 'get_' + k)()
-                setattr(self, '_' + k, v)
+                setattr(self, '_label' + k, v)
 
 
 class XTick(Tick):
diff --git a/lib/matplotlib/tests/test_axes.py b/lib/matplotlib/tests/test_axes.py
index df0e48e0cef0..70c5c47f810c 100644
--- a/lib/matplotlib/tests/test_axes.py
+++ b/lib/matplotlib/tests/test_axes.py
@@ -4335,6 +4335,17 @@ def test_pandas_indexing_hist():
     fig, axes = plt.subplots()
     axes.hist(ser_2)
 
+@cleanup
+def test_axis_set_tick_params_labelsize_labelcolor():
+    # Tests fix for issue 4346
+    axis_1 = plt.subplot()
+    axis_1.yaxis.set_tick_params(labelsize=30, labelcolor='red', direction='out')
+
+    # Expected values after setting the ticks
+    assert axis_1.yaxis.majorTicks[0]._size == 4.0
+    assert axis_1.yaxis.majorTicks[0]._color == 'k'
+    assert axis_1.yaxis.majorTicks[0]._labelsize == 30.0
+    assert axis_1.yaxis.majorTicks[0]._labelcolor == 'red'
 
 if __name__ == '__main__':
     import nose