diff --git a/src/jansson.h b/src/jansson.h
index ee60794..fe283cc 100644
--- a/src/jansson.h
+++ b/src/jansson.h
@@ -139,6 +139,7 @@ int json_object_clear(json_t *object);
 int json_object_update(json_t *object, json_t *other);
 int json_object_update_existing(json_t *object, json_t *other);
 int json_object_update_missing(json_t *object, json_t *other);
+int json_object_update_missing_incref(json_t *object, json_t *other);
 void *json_object_iter(json_t *object);
 void *json_object_iter_at(json_t *object, const char *key);
 void *json_object_key_to_iter(const char *key);
diff --git a/src/value.c b/src/value.c
index 2010605..c09faaf 100644
--- a/src/value.c
+++ b/src/value.c
@@ -209,6 +209,22 @@ int json_object_update_missing(json_t *object, json_t *other)
     return 0;
 }
 
+int json_object_update_missing_incref(json_t *object, json_t *other)
+{
+    const char *key;
+    json_t *value;
+
+    if(!json_is_object(object) || !json_is_object(other))
+        return -1;
+
+    json_object_foreach(other, key, value) {
+        if(!json_object_get(object, key))
+            json_object_set_nocheck(object, key, json_incref(value));
+    }
+
+    return 0;
+}
+
 void *json_object_iter(json_t *json)
 {
     json_object_t *object;