diff --git a/include/qom/object.h b/include/qom/object.h
index faae0d841f..fae096f51c 100644
--- a/include/qom/object.h
+++ b/include/qom/object.h
@@ -1543,6 +1543,18 @@ Object *object_resolve_path(const char *path, bool *ambiguous);
 Object *object_resolve_path_type(const char *path, const char *typename,
                                  bool *ambiguous);
 
+/**
+ * object_resolve_path_at:
+ * @parent: the object in which to resolve the path
+ * @path: the path to resolve
+ *
+ * This is like object_resolve_path(), except paths not starting with
+ * a slash are relative to @parent.
+ *
+ * Returns: The resolved object or NULL on path lookup failure.
+ */
+Object *object_resolve_path_at(Object *parent, const char *path);
+
 /**
  * object_resolve_path_component:
  * @parent: the object in which to resolve the path
diff --git a/qom/object.c b/qom/object.c
index 6be710bc40..4f0677cca9 100644
--- a/qom/object.c
+++ b/qom/object.c
@@ -2144,6 +2144,17 @@ Object *object_resolve_path(const char *path, bool *ambiguous)
     return object_resolve_path_type(path, TYPE_OBJECT, ambiguous);
 }
 
+Object *object_resolve_path_at(Object *parent, const char *path)
+{
+    g_auto(GStrv) parts = g_strsplit(path, "/", 0);
+
+    if (*path == '/') {
+        return object_resolve_abs_path(object_get_root(), parts + 1,
+                                       TYPE_OBJECT);
+    }
+    return object_resolve_abs_path(parent, parts, TYPE_OBJECT);
+}
+
 typedef struct StringProperty
 {
     char *(*get)(Object *, Error **);
diff --git a/softmmu/qdev-monitor.c b/softmmu/qdev-monitor.c
index f8b3a4cd82..b5aaae4b8c 100644
--- a/softmmu/qdev-monitor.c
+++ b/softmmu/qdev-monitor.c
@@ -871,15 +871,9 @@ void qmp_device_add(QDict *qdict, QObject **ret_data, Error **errp)
 
 static DeviceState *find_device_state(const char *id, Error **errp)
 {
-    Object *obj;
+    Object *obj = object_resolve_path_at(qdev_get_peripheral(), id);
     DeviceState *dev;
 
-    if (id[0] == '/') {
-        obj = object_resolve_path(id, NULL);
-    } else {
-        obj = object_resolve_path_component(qdev_get_peripheral(), id);
-    }
-
     if (!obj) {
         error_set(errp, ERROR_CLASS_DEVICE_NOT_FOUND,
                   "Device '%s' not found", id);