diff --git a/Tests/test_imagefont.py b/Tests/test_imagefont.py
index c7a111b63c9..4a06cd90edb 100644
--- a/Tests/test_imagefont.py
+++ b/Tests/test_imagefont.py
@@ -66,6 +66,7 @@ def test_font_properties(font: ImageFont.FreeTypeFont) -> None:
     font_copy = font.font_variant()
     assert font_copy.path == FONT_PATH
     assert font_copy.size == FONT_SIZE
+    assert font_copy.layout_engine == font.layout_engine
 
     font_copy = font.font_variant(size=FONT_SIZE + 1)
     assert font_copy.size == FONT_SIZE + 1
@@ -75,6 +76,20 @@ def test_font_properties(font: ImageFont.FreeTypeFont) -> None:
     assert font_copy.path == second_font_path
 
 
+@pytest.mark.parametrize(
+    "variant_layout_engine",
+    (
+        ImageFont.Layout.BASIC,
+        pytest.param(ImageFont.Layout.RAQM, marks=skip_unless_feature("raqm")),
+    ),
+)
+def test_font_variant_layout_engine(
+    font: ImageFont.FreeTypeFont, variant_layout_engine: ImageFont.Layout
+) -> None:
+    font_copy = font.font_variant(layout_engine=variant_layout_engine)
+    assert font_copy.layout_engine == variant_layout_engine
+
+
 def _render(
     font: StrOrBytesPath | BinaryIO, layout_engine: ImageFont.Layout
 ) -> Image.Image:
diff --git a/src/PIL/ImageFont.py b/src/PIL/ImageFont.py
index d066759660c..611a8c4f2d3 100644
--- a/src/PIL/ImageFont.py
+++ b/src/PIL/ImageFont.py
@@ -695,7 +695,9 @@ def font_variant(
             size=self.size if size is None else size,
             index=self.index if index is None else index,
             encoding=self.encoding if encoding is None else encoding,
-            layout_engine=layout_engine or self.layout_engine,
+            layout_engine=(
+                layout_engine if layout_engine is not None else self.layout_engine
+            ),
         )
 
     def get_variation_names(self) -> list[bytes]: