diff --git a/addons/mail/mail_message.py b/addons/mail/mail_message.py
index 0b6a4aebd18..979d4d7f3b8 100644
--- a/addons/mail/mail_message.py
+++ b/addons/mail/mail_message.py
@@ -144,6 +144,7 @@ class mail_message(osv.Model):
         'author_id': fields.many2one('res.partner', 'Author', select=1,
             ondelete='set null',
             help="Author of the message. If not set, email_from may hold an email address that did not match any partner."),
+        'author_avatar': fields.related('author_id', 'image_small', type="binary", string="Author's Avatar"),
         'partner_ids': fields.many2many('res.partner', string='Recipients'),
         'notified_partner_ids': fields.many2many('res.partner', 'mail_notification',
             'message_id', 'partner_id', 'Notified partners',
@@ -277,7 +278,7 @@ class mail_message(osv.Model):
         }
         if starred:
             values['read'] = False
- 
+
         notif_ids = notification_obj.search(cr, uid, domain, context=context)
 
         # all message have notifications: already set them as (un)starred
@@ -384,6 +385,7 @@ class mail_message(osv.Model):
                 'parent_id': parent_id,
                 'is_private': is_private,
                 'author_id': False,
+                'author_avatar': message.author_avatar,
                 'is_author': False,
                 'partner_ids': [],
                 'vote_nb': vote_nb,
@@ -514,7 +516,6 @@ class mail_message(osv.Model):
         message_unload_ids = message_unload_ids if message_unload_ids is not None else []
         if message_unload_ids:
             domain += [('id', 'not in', message_unload_ids)]
-        notification_obj = self.pool.get('mail.notification')
         limit = limit or self._message_read_limit
         message_tree = {}
         message_list = []
diff --git a/addons/mail/static/src/js/mail.js b/addons/mail/static/src/js/mail.js
index 5143c7cc1fe..2cd9c7c077d 100644
--- a/addons/mail/static/src/js/mail.js
+++ b/addons/mail/static/src/js/mail.js
@@ -219,6 +219,7 @@ openerp.mail = function (session) {
             this.type = datasets.type ||  false,
             this.subtype = datasets.subtype ||  false,
             this.is_author = datasets.is_author ||  false,
+            this.author_avatar = datasets.author_avatar || false,
             this.is_private = datasets.is_private ||  false,
             this.subject = datasets.subject ||  false,
             this.name = datasets.name ||  false,
@@ -260,8 +261,10 @@ openerp.mail = function (session) {
             this.date = this.date ? session.web.str_to_datetime(this.date) : false;
             if (this.date && new Date().getTime()-this.date.getTime() < 7*24*60*60*1000) {
                 this.timerelative = $.timeago(this.date);
-            } 
-            if (this.type == 'email' && (!this.author_id || !this.author_id[0])) {
+            }
+            if (this.author_avatar) {
+                this.avatar = "data:image/png;base64," + this.author_avatar;
+            } else if (this.type == 'email' && (!this.author_id || !this.author_id[0])) {
                 this.avatar = ('/mail/static/src/img/email_icon.png');
             } else if (this.author_id && this.template != 'mail.compose_message') {
                 this.avatar = mail.ChatterUtils.get_image(this.session, 'res.partner', 'image_small', this.author_id[0]);