diff --git a/client.c b/client.c
index 8b41c859..0d21f4f1 100644
--- a/client.c
+++ b/client.c
@@ -24,6 +24,7 @@
 #include <xcb/xcb.h>
 #include <xcb/xcb_atom.h>
 
+#include "image.h"
 #include "client.h"
 #include "tag.h"
 #include "window.h"
@@ -389,6 +390,7 @@ client_manage(xcb_window_t w, xcb_get_geometry_reply_t *wgeom, int phys_screen,
 {
     xcb_get_property_cookie_t ewmh_icon_cookie;
     client_t *c;
+    draw_image_t *icon;
     const uint32_t select_input_val[] =
     {
         XCB_EVENT_MASK_STRUCTURE_NOTIFY
@@ -419,7 +421,11 @@ client_manage(xcb_window_t w, xcb_get_geometry_reply_t *wgeom, int phys_screen,
     c->geometry.width = c->f_geometry.width = c->m_geometry.width = wgeom->width;
     c->geometry.height = c->f_geometry.height = c->m_geometry.height = wgeom->height;
     client_setborder(c, wgeom->border_width);
-    c->icon = ewmh_window_icon_get_reply(ewmh_icon_cookie);
+    if((icon = ewmh_window_icon_get_reply(ewmh_icon_cookie)))
+    {
+        c->icon = image_new(icon);
+        image_ref(&c->icon);
+    }
 
     /* we honor size hints by default */
     c->honorsizehints = true;
@@ -1017,7 +1023,7 @@ luaA_client_visible_get(lua_State *L)
     for(c = globalconf.clients; c; c = c->next)
         if(client_isvisible(c, screen))
         {
-            luaA_client_userdata_new(globalconf.L, c);
+            luaA_client_userdata_new(L, c);
             lua_rawseti(L, -2, i++);
         }
 
@@ -1274,6 +1280,7 @@ luaA_client_newindex(lua_State *L)
     double d;
     int i;
     titlebar_t **t = NULL;
+    image_t **image;
 
     if((*c)->invalid)
         luaL_error(L, "client is invalid\n");
@@ -1316,10 +1323,11 @@ luaA_client_newindex(lua_State *L)
       case A_TK_FULLSCREEN:
         client_setfullscreen(*c, luaA_checkboolean(L, 3));
         break;
-      case A_TK_ICON_PATH:
-        buf = luaL_checkstring(L, 3);
-        p_delete(&(*c)->icon_path);
-        (*c)->icon_path = a_strdup(buf);
+      case A_TK_ICON:
+        image = luaA_checkudata(L, 3, "image");
+        image_unref(&(*c)->icon);
+        image_ref(image);
+        (*c)->icon = *image;
         widget_invalidate_cache((*c)->screen, WIDGET_CACHE_CLIENTS);
         break;
       case A_TK_OPACITY:
@@ -1525,8 +1533,11 @@ luaA_client_index(lua_State *L)
       case A_TK_FULLSCREEN:
         lua_pushboolean(L, (*c)->isfullscreen);
         break;
-      case A_TK_ICON_PATH:
-        lua_pushstring(L, (*c)->icon_path);
+      case A_TK_ICON:
+        if((*c)->icon)
+            luaA_image_userdata_new(L, (*c)->icon);
+        else
+            return 0;
         break;
       case A_TK_OPACITY:
         if((d = window_opacity_get((*c)->win)) >= 0)
@@ -1554,7 +1565,7 @@ luaA_client_index(lua_State *L)
         break;
       case A_TK_TITLEBAR:
         if((*c)->titlebar)
-            return luaA_titlebar_userdata_new(globalconf.L, (*c)->titlebar);
+            return luaA_titlebar_userdata_new(L, (*c)->titlebar);
         return 0;
       case A_TK_URGENT:
         lua_pushboolean(L, (*c)->isurgent);
diff --git a/common/tokenize.gperf b/common/tokenize.gperf
index b3d73d45..1d00e207 100644
--- a/common/tokenize.gperf
+++ b/common/tokenize.gperf
@@ -24,8 +24,8 @@ grow
 height
 hide
 honorsizehints
+icon
 icon_name
-icon_path
 image
 instance
 invert
diff --git a/event.c b/event.c
index e948e49d..5a79e883 100644
--- a/event.c
+++ b/event.c
@@ -668,9 +668,16 @@ event_handle_propertynotify(void *data __attribute__ ((unused)),
         else if(ev->atom == _NET_WM_ICON)
         {
             xcb_get_property_cookie_t icon_q = ewmh_window_icon_get_unchecked(c->win);
-            draw_image_delete(&c->icon);
+            draw_image_t *icon;
+            image_unref(&c->icon);
             widget_invalidate_cache(c->screen, WIDGET_CACHE_CLIENTS);
-            c->icon = ewmh_window_icon_get_reply(icon_q);
+            if((icon = ewmh_window_icon_get_reply(icon_q)))
+            {
+                c->icon = image_new(icon);
+                image_ref(&c->icon);
+            }
+            else
+                c->icon = NULL;
         }
     }
 
diff --git a/image.c b/image.c
index fe364b74..9539f095 100644
--- a/image.c
+++ b/image.c
@@ -24,7 +24,7 @@
 
 extern awesome_t globalconf;
 
-DO_LUA_NEW(static, image_t, image, "image", image_ref)
+DO_LUA_NEW(extern, image_t, image, "image", image_ref)
 DO_LUA_GC(image_t, image, "image", image_unref)
 DO_LUA_EQ(image_t, image, "image")
 
diff --git a/image.h b/image.h
index c52ca38b..2d90bade 100644
--- a/image.h
+++ b/image.h
@@ -22,7 +22,10 @@
 #ifndef AWESOME_IMAGE_H
 #define AWESOME_IMAGE_H
 
+#include <lua.h>
+
 #include "draw.h"
+#include "common/refcount.h"
 
 typedef struct
 {
@@ -43,5 +46,19 @@ image_delete(image_t **i)
 
 DO_RCNT(image_t, image, image_delete)
 
+int luaA_image_userdata_new(lua_State *, image_t *);
+
+/** Create a new image from a draw_image_t object.
+ * \param i The image data.
+ * \return A image_t object.
+ */
+static inline image_t *
+image_new(draw_image_t *i)
+{
+    image_t *image = p_new(image_t, 1);
+    image->image = i;
+    return image;
+}
+
 #endif
 // vim: filetype=c:expandtab:shiftwidth=4:tabstop=8:softtabstop=4:encoding=utf-8:textwidth=80
diff --git a/structs.h b/structs.h
index a0743e07..38dd4e01 100644
--- a/structs.h
+++ b/structs.h
@@ -30,10 +30,10 @@
 #include "layout.h"
 #include "swindow.h"
 #include "xscreen.h"
+#include "image.h"
 #include "common/xutil.h"
 #include "common/xembed.h"
 #include "common/refcount.h"
-#include "draw.h"
 
 /** Stacking layout layers */
 typedef enum
@@ -329,7 +329,7 @@ struct client_t
     /** Button bindings */
     button_array_t buttons;
     /** Icon */
-    draw_image_t *icon;
+    image_t *icon;
     /** Size hints */
     xcb_size_hints_t size_hints;
     /** Next and previous clients */
diff --git a/widgets/appicon.c b/widgets/appicon.c
index 8b31e869..392a1627 100644
--- a/widgets/appicon.c
+++ b/widgets/appicon.c
@@ -56,11 +56,9 @@ appicon_draw(draw_context_t *ctx, int screen __attribute__ ((unused)),
 
     if(c)
     {
-        if(!(image = draw_image_new(c->icon_path)))
-            image = c->icon;
-
-        if(image)
+        if(c->icon)
         {
+            image = c->icon->image;
             w->area.width = ((double) ctx->height / (double) image->height) * image->width;
             w->area.x = widget_calculate_offset(ctx->width,
                                                 w->area.width,
@@ -68,8 +66,6 @@ appicon_draw(draw_context_t *ctx, int screen __attribute__ ((unused)),
                                                 w->widget->align);
             draw_image(ctx, w->area.x,
                        w->area.y, ctx->height, image);
-            if(image != c->icon)
-                draw_image_delete(&image);
         }
     }
     else
diff --git a/widgets/tasklist.c b/widgets/tasklist.c
index 93a42fb6..de949210 100644
--- a/widgets/tasklist.c
+++ b/widgets/tasklist.c
@@ -142,20 +142,12 @@ tasklist_draw_item(draw_context_t *ctx,
         else
             parser_data = NULL;
 
-        /* use image from icon_path, otherwise netwm icon */
-        if(!(image = draw_image_new(odata->client_labels.tab[i].client->icon_path)))
-            image = odata->client_labels.tab[i].client->icon;
-
-        if(image)
+        if(odata->client_labels.tab[i].client->icon)
         {
-
+            image = odata->client_labels.tab[i].client->icon->image;
             icon_width = ((double) ctx->height / (double) image->height) * image->width;
             draw_image(ctx, w->area.x + odata->box_width * i,
                        w->area.y, ctx->height, image);
-
-            /* a bit hackish */
-            if(image != odata->client_labels.tab[i].client->icon)
-                draw_image_delete(&image);
         }
     }
     else