diff --git a/dockerclient/archive.go b/dockerclient/archive.go
index 773008811..8e1096fc4 100644
--- a/dockerclient/archive.go
+++ b/dockerclient/archive.go
@@ -158,7 +158,7 @@ func archiveFromURL(src, dst, tempDir string, check DirectoryCheck) (io.Reader,
 func archiveFromDisk(directory string, src, dst string, allowDownload bool, excludes []string, check DirectoryCheck) (io.Reader, io.Closer, error) {
 	var err error
 	if filepath.IsAbs(src) {
-		src, err = filepath.Rel(filepath.Dir(src), src)
+		src, err = filepath.Rel(directory, filepath.Join(directory, src))
 		if err != nil {
 			return nil, nil, err
 		}
diff --git a/dockerclient/conformance_test.go b/dockerclient/conformance_test.go
index e20262d73..3b618814a 100644
--- a/dockerclient/conformance_test.go
+++ b/dockerclient/conformance_test.go
@@ -287,6 +287,21 @@ func TestConformanceInternal(t *testing.T) {
 			Name:       "copy to renamed file",
 			ContextDir: "testdata/copyrename",
 		},
+		{
+			Name:       "copy subdirectory 1",
+			ContextDir: "testdata/copyblahblub",
+			Dockerfile: "Dockerfile",
+		},
+		{
+			Name:       "copy subdirectory 2",
+			ContextDir: "testdata/copyblahblub",
+			Dockerfile: "Dockerfile2",
+		},
+		{
+			Name:       "copy subdirectory 3",
+			ContextDir: "testdata/copyblahblub",
+			Dockerfile: "Dockerfile3",
+		},
 		{
 			Name:       "directory with slash",
 			ContextDir: "testdata/overlapdir",
diff --git a/dockerclient/testdata/copyblahblub/Dockerfile b/dockerclient/testdata/copyblahblub/Dockerfile
new file mode 100644
index 000000000..3c64a2166
--- /dev/null
+++ b/dockerclient/testdata/copyblahblub/Dockerfile
@@ -0,0 +1,4 @@
+FROM busybox
+COPY firstdir/seconddir /var
+RUN ls -la /var
+RUN ls -la /var/dir-a
diff --git a/dockerclient/testdata/copyblahblub/Dockerfile2 b/dockerclient/testdata/copyblahblub/Dockerfile2
new file mode 100644
index 000000000..688b352bf
--- /dev/null
+++ b/dockerclient/testdata/copyblahblub/Dockerfile2
@@ -0,0 +1,4 @@
+FROM busybox
+COPY /firstdir/seconddir /var
+RUN ls -la /var
+RUN ls -la /var/dir-a
diff --git a/dockerclient/testdata/copyblahblub/Dockerfile3 b/dockerclient/testdata/copyblahblub/Dockerfile3
new file mode 100644
index 000000000..2ef775512
--- /dev/null
+++ b/dockerclient/testdata/copyblahblub/Dockerfile3
@@ -0,0 +1,4 @@
+FROM busybox
+COPY /firstdir/seconddir/ /var
+RUN ls -la /var
+RUN ls -la /var/dir-a
diff --git a/dockerclient/testdata/copyblahblub/firstdir/seconddir/dir-a/file-a b/dockerclient/testdata/copyblahblub/firstdir/seconddir/dir-a/file-a
new file mode 100644
index 000000000..2f76e89bd
--- /dev/null
+++ b/dockerclient/testdata/copyblahblub/firstdir/seconddir/dir-a/file-a
@@ -0,0 +1 @@
+file-a
diff --git a/dockerclient/testdata/copyblahblub/firstdir/seconddir/dir-b/file-b b/dockerclient/testdata/copyblahblub/firstdir/seconddir/dir-b/file-b
new file mode 100644
index 000000000..3b8ef5ab1
--- /dev/null
+++ b/dockerclient/testdata/copyblahblub/firstdir/seconddir/dir-b/file-b
@@ -0,0 +1 @@
+file-b