diff --git a/libqpdf/QPDFObjectHandle.cc b/libqpdf/QPDFObjectHandle.cc
index cd03ef1c..3fa0266c 100644
--- a/libqpdf/QPDFObjectHandle.cc
+++ b/libqpdf/QPDFObjectHandle.cc
@@ -2340,7 +2340,10 @@ QPDFObjectHandle::shallowCopy()
     if (isArray())
     {
 	QTC::TC("qpdf", "QPDFObjectHandle shallow copy array");
-	new_obj = newArray(getArrayAsVector());
+        // No newArray for shallow copying the sparse array
+        QPDF_Array* arr = dynamic_cast<QPDF_Array*>(m->obj.getPointer());
+        new_obj = QPDFObjectHandle(
+            new QPDF_Array(arr->getElementsForShallowCopy()));
     }
     else if (isDictionary())
     {
diff --git a/libqpdf/QPDF_Array.cc b/libqpdf/QPDF_Array.cc
index 45635f8a..31cd2dbc 100644
--- a/libqpdf/QPDF_Array.cc
+++ b/libqpdf/QPDF_Array.cc
@@ -136,3 +136,9 @@ QPDF_Array::eraseItem(int at)
 {
     this->elements.erase(QIntC::to_size(at));
 }
+
+SparseOHArray const&
+QPDF_Array::getElementsForShallowCopy() const
+{
+    return this->elements;
+}
diff --git a/libqpdf/qpdf/QPDF_Array.hh b/libqpdf/qpdf/QPDF_Array.hh
index 08a5a608..eb0b594b 100644
--- a/libqpdf/qpdf/QPDF_Array.hh
+++ b/libqpdf/qpdf/QPDF_Array.hh
@@ -28,6 +28,8 @@ class QPDF_Array: public QPDFObject
     void appendItem(QPDFObjectHandle const& item);
     void eraseItem(int at);
 
+    SparseOHArray const& getElementsForShallowCopy() const;
+
   protected:
     virtual void releaseResolved();