diff --git a/src/db/db/dbLayoutQuery.cc b/src/db/db/dbLayoutQuery.cc
index d2753b617..c5989b5bb 100644
--- a/src/db/db/dbLayoutQuery.cc
+++ b/src/db/db/dbLayoutQuery.cc
@@ -1006,15 +1006,19 @@ public:
 
       db::Instance inst;
       if (m_reading) {
-        inst = mp_parent->sorted_inst_ptr (std::distance (mp_parent->begin_sorted_insts (), m_inst));
+        if (mp_parent) {
+          inst = mp_parent->sorted_inst_ptr (std::distance (mp_parent->begin_sorted_insts (), m_inst));
+        }
       } else {
         inst = m_i;
       }
 
-      if (m_instance_mode == ArrayInstances) {
-        v.push (tl::Variant (db::InstElement (inst)));
-      } else {
-        v.push (tl::Variant (db::InstElement (inst, m_array_iter)));
+      if (! inst.is_null ()) {
+        if (m_instance_mode == ArrayInstances) {
+          v.push (tl::Variant (db::InstElement (inst)));
+        } else {
+          v.push (tl::Variant (db::InstElement (inst, m_array_iter)));
+        }
       }
       return true;
 
diff --git a/src/db/unit_tests/dbLayoutQueryTests.cc b/src/db/unit_tests/dbLayoutQueryTests.cc
index e93171e89..77f091cd2 100644
--- a/src/db/unit_tests/dbLayoutQueryTests.cc
+++ b/src/db/unit_tests/dbLayoutQueryTests.cc
@@ -1578,3 +1578,20 @@ TEST(64)
     EXPECT_EQ (s, "(0.01,-0.02),(-0.01,0.02),(-0.01,0.02),(-0.01,0.02),(0.01,-0.02),(-0.01,0.02)");
   }
 }
+
+TEST(65)
+{
+  db::Layout g;
+  init_layout (g);
+
+  {
+    db::LayoutQuery q ("instances of cell .*.* where inst.trans.rot == 0");
+    db::LayoutQueryIterator iq (q, &g);
+    std::string s = q2s_var (iq, "data");
+    EXPECT_EQ (s, "nil,nil");
+    s = q2s_var (iq, "cell_name");
+    EXPECT_EQ (s, "c1,c5x");
+    s = q2s_var (iq, "inst_elements");
+    EXPECT_EQ (s, "(cell_index=0 r0 *1 10,-20),(cell_index=4 r0 *1 10,-20)");
+  }
+}