diff --git a/include/qpdf/QPDF.hh b/include/qpdf/QPDF.hh
index 42097425..bcd85cd2 100644
--- a/include/qpdf/QPDF.hh
+++ b/include/qpdf/QPDF.hh
@@ -843,7 +843,7 @@ class QPDF
     // it can resolve indirect references.
     class Resolver
     {
-        friend class QPDFObjectHandle;
+        friend class QPDFObject;
 
       private:
         static void
diff --git a/include/qpdf/QPDFObject.hh b/include/qpdf/QPDFObject.hh
index 7bb7c6e1..751a5736 100644
--- a/include/qpdf/QPDFObject.hh
+++ b/include/qpdf/QPDFObject.hh
@@ -153,10 +153,19 @@ class QPDFObject
     }
 
     bool
-    isUnresolved()
+    isUnresolved() const
     {
         return value->type_code == ::ot_unresolved;
     }
+    void
+    resolve()
+    {
+        if (isUnresolved()) {
+            doResolve();
+        }
+    }
+    void doResolve();
+
     template <typename T>
     T*
     as()
diff --git a/libqpdf/QPDFObject.cc b/libqpdf/QPDFObject.cc
index 8df2b480..8b538021 100644
--- a/libqpdf/QPDFObject.cc
+++ b/libqpdf/QPDFObject.cc
@@ -1 +1,10 @@
 #include <qpdf/QPDFObject.hh>
+
+#include <qpdf/QPDF.hh>
+
+void
+QPDFObject::doResolve()
+{
+    auto og = value->og;
+    QPDF::Resolver::resolve(value->qpdf, og);
+}
diff --git a/libqpdf/QPDFObjectHandle.cc b/libqpdf/QPDFObjectHandle.cc
index 8a38352f..c55506a5 100644
--- a/libqpdf/QPDFObjectHandle.cc
+++ b/libqpdf/QPDFObjectHandle.cc
@@ -2595,9 +2595,7 @@ QPDFObjectHandle::dereference()
     if (!isInitialized()) {
         return false;
     }
-    if (this->obj->isUnresolved()) {
-        QPDF::Resolver::resolve(this->qpdf, getObjGen());
-    }
+    this->obj->resolve();
     return true;
 }