diff --git a/lisp/textmodes/enriched.el b/lisp/textmodes/enriched.el
index 385674f5b1a..bd4ced78efd 100644
--- a/lisp/textmodes/enriched.el
+++ b/lisp/textmodes/enriched.el
@@ -453,7 +453,12 @@ Any \"<<\" strings encountered are converted to \"<\".
 Return value is \(begin end name positive-p), or nil if none was found."
   (while (and (search-forward "<" nil 1)
 	      (progn (goto-char (match-beginning 0))
-		     (not (looking-at enriched-annotation-regexp))))
+                     ;; Make sure we are not inside a string, where any
+                     ;; matches for 'enriched-annotation-regexp' are
+                     ;; false positives.  This happens, for example, in
+                     ;; display properties that specify SVG images.
+                     (or (nth 3 (syntax-ppss))
+		         (not (looking-at enriched-annotation-regexp)))))
     (forward-char 1)
     (if (eq ?< (char-after (point)))
 	(delete-char 1)