diff --git a/src/ui/widget/marker-combo-box.cpp b/src/ui/widget/marker-combo-box.cpp
index 7e14fa9710c8b68f8c875f7181967b0ce1a14652..91c102ad23809228ce398290add2328210ea14d6 100644
--- a/src/ui/widget/marker-combo-box.cpp
+++ b/src/ui/widget/marker-combo-box.cpp
@@ -769,8 +769,6 @@ MarkerComboBox::create_marker_image(Geom::IntPoint pixel_size, gchar const *mnam
         oldmarker->deleteObject(false);
     }
 
-    SPDocument::install_reference_document scoped(_sandbox.get(), source);
-
     // Create a copy repr of the marker with id="sample"
     Inkscape::XML::Document *xml_doc = _sandbox->getReprDoc();
     Inkscape::XML::Node *mrepr = marker->getRepr()->duplicate(xml_doc);
@@ -857,6 +855,8 @@ MarkerComboBox::create_marker_image(Geom::IntPoint pixel_size, gchar const *mnam
         }
     }
 
+    SPDocument::install_reference_document scoped(_sandbox.get(), source);
+
     _sandbox->getRoot()->requestDisplayUpdate(SP_OBJECT_MODIFIED_FLAG);
     _sandbox->ensureUpToDate();