diff --git a/configure b/configure
index ebe0599..2ecd03a 100755
--- a/configure
+++ b/configure
@@ -203,6 +203,7 @@ bluez=""
 brlapi=""
 curl=""
 curses=""
+cursesw=""
 docs=""
 fdt=""
 netmap="no"
@@ -984,6 +985,10 @@ for opt do
   ;;
   --enable-curses) curses="yes"
   ;;
+  --disable-iconv) iconv="no"
+  ;;
+  --enable-iconv) iconv="yes"
+  ;;
   --disable-curl) curl="no"
   ;;
   --enable-curl) curl="yes"
@@ -1351,6 +1356,7 @@ disabled with --disable-FEATURE, default is enabled if available:
   --with-gtkabi     select preferred GTK ABI 2.0 or 3.0
   vte             vte support for the gtk UI
   curses          curses UI
+  iconv           font glyph conversion support
   vnc             VNC UI support
   vnc-sasl        SASL encryption for VNC server
   vnc-jpeg        JPEG lossy compression for VNC server
@@ -2938,6 +2944,33 @@ EOF
 fi
 
 ##########################################
+# iconv probe
+if test "$iconv" != "no" ; then
+  cat > $TMPC << EOF
+#include <iconv.h>
+int main(void) {
+  iconv_t conv = iconv_open("ISO-8859-1", "ISO-8859-1");
+  return conv != (iconv_t) -1;
+}
+EOF
+  for iconv_lib in '' -liconv; do
+    if compile_prog "" "$iconv_lib" ; then
+      iconv_found=yes
+      libs_softmmu="$iconv_lib $libs_softmmu"
+      break
+    fi
+  done
+  if test "$iconv_found" = "yes" ; then
+    iconv=yes
+  else
+    if test "$iconv" = "yes" ; then
+      feature_not_found "iconv" "Install iconv devel"
+    fi
+    iconv=no
+  fi
+fi
+
+##########################################
 # curl probe
 if test "$curl" != "no" ; then
   if $pkg_config libcurl --exists; then
@@ -4860,6 +4893,7 @@ echo "nettle            $nettle $(echo_version $nettle $nettle_version)"
 echo "nettle kdf        $nettle_kdf"
 echo "libtasn1          $tasn1"
 echo "curses support    $curses"
+echo "iconv support     $iconv"
 echo "virgl support     $virglrenderer"
 echo "curl support      $curl"
 echo "mingw32 support   $mingw32"
@@ -5120,6 +5154,9 @@ fi
 if test "$curses" = "yes" ; then
   echo "CONFIG_CURSES=y" >> $config_host_mak
 fi
+if test "$iconv" = "yes" ; then
+  echo "CONFIG_ICONV=y" >> $config_host_mak
+fi
 if test "$utimens" = "yes" ; then
   echo "CONFIG_UTIMENSAT=y" >> $config_host_mak
 fi
diff --git a/include/sysemu/sysemu.h b/include/sysemu/sysemu.h
index ee7c760..b90b9b1 100644
--- a/include/sysemu/sysemu.h
+++ b/include/sysemu/sysemu.h
@@ -148,6 +148,7 @@ extern int graphic_height;
 extern int graphic_depth;
 extern int display_opengl;
 extern const char *keyboard_layout;
+extern const char *font_charset;
 extern int win2k_install_hack;
 extern int alt_grab;
 extern int ctrl_grab;
diff --git a/qemu-options.hx b/qemu-options.hx
index 0b621bb..c82a26e 100644
--- a/qemu-options.hx
+++ b/qemu-options.hx
@@ -930,7 +930,7 @@ DEF("display", HAS_ARG, QEMU_OPTION_display,
     "            [,window_close=on|off][,gl=on|off]|curses|none|\n"
     "-display gtk[,grab_on_hover=on|off][,gl=on|off]|\n"
     "-display vnc=<display>[,<optargs>]\n"
-    "-display curses\n"
+    "-display curses[,charset=<encoding>]\n"
     "-display none"
     "                select display type\n"
     "The default display is equivalent to\n"
@@ -961,6 +961,9 @@ support a text mode, QEMU can display this output using a
 curses/ncurses interface. Nothing is displayed when the graphics
 device is in graphical mode or if the graphics device does not support
 a text mode. Generally only the VGA device models support text mode.
+The font charset used by the guest can be specified with the
+@code{charset} option, for example @code{charset=CP850} for IBM CP850
+encoding. The default is @code{CP437}.
 @item none
 Do not display video output. The guest will still see an emulated
 graphics card, but its output will not be displayed to the QEMU
diff --git a/ui/curses.c b/ui/curses.c
index cd8ed5f..f839a9d 100644
--- a/ui/curses.c
+++ b/ui/curses.c
@@ -31,6 +31,9 @@
 #include <locale.h>
 #include <wchar.h>
 #include <langinfo.h>
+#ifdef CONFIG_ICONV
+#include <iconv.h>
+#endif
 
 #include "qemu-common.h"
 #include "ui/console.h"
@@ -397,6 +400,44 @@ static void curses_setup(void)
     vga_to_curses[0x1e].chars[0] = L'\u25b2';
     vga_to_curses[0x1f].chars[0] = L'\u25bc';
 
+#ifdef CONFIG_ICONV
+    if (font_charset) {
+        unsigned char ch;
+        wchar_t wch;
+        char *pch, *pwch;
+        size_t sch, swch;
+        iconv_t conv;
+
+        conv = iconv_open("WCHAR_T", font_charset);
+        if (conv == (iconv_t) -1) {
+            fprintf(stderr, "Could not convert font glyphs from %s: '%s'\n",
+                            font_charset, strerror(errno));
+            exit(1);
+        }
+
+        for (i = 0x20; i <= 0xff; i++) {
+            ch = i;
+            pch = (char *) &ch;
+            pwch = (char *) &wch;
+            sch = sizeof(ch);
+            swch = sizeof(wch);
+            if (iconv(conv, &pch, &sch, &pwch, &swch) == (size_t) -1) {
+                fprintf(stderr, "Could not convert 0x%2x from %s: '%s'\n",
+                                ch, font_charset, strerror(errno));
+            } else {
+                vga_to_curses[ch].chars[0] = wch;
+            }
+        }
+    } else
+#else
+    if (font_charset) {
+        if (strcmp(font_charset, "CP437")) {
+            fprintf(stderr, "iconv support not enabled for converting from %s, "
+                            "only CP437 supported\n", font_charset);
+            exit(1);
+        }
+    }
+#endif
     {
         /* Hardcode CP437 to unicode */
         vga_to_curses[0x80].chars[0] = L'\u00C7';
diff --git a/vl.c b/vl.c
index ad2664b..3043132 100644
--- a/vl.c
+++ b/vl.c
@@ -132,7 +132,8 @@ const char *bios_name = NULL;
 enum vga_retrace_method vga_retrace_method = VGA_RETRACE_DUMB;
 int request_opengl = -1;
 int display_opengl;
-const char* keyboard_layout = NULL;
+const char *keyboard_layout;
+const char *font_charset;
 ram_addr_t ram_size;
 const char *mem_path = NULL;
 int mem_prealloc = 0; /* force preallocation of physical target memory */
@@ -2140,6 +2141,24 @@ static DisplayType select_display(const char *p)
     } else if (strstart(p, "curses", &opts)) {
 #ifdef CONFIG_CURSES
         display = DT_CURSES;
+        while (*opts) {
+            const char *nextopt, *name;
+
+            if (strstart(opts, ",charset=", &name)) {
+                nextopt = strchr(name, ',');
+                if (nextopt) {
+                    font_charset = g_strndup(name, nextopt - name);
+                    nextopt++;
+                } else {
+                    font_charset = g_strdup(name);
+                    nextopt = name + strlen(name);
+                }
+            } else {
+                error_report("invalid curses option string");
+                exit(1);
+            }
+            opts = nextopt;
+        }
 #else
         error_report("curses support is disabled");
         exit(1);
