diff --git a/make/modules/java.desktop/lib/ClientLibraries.gmk b/make/modules/java.desktop/lib/ClientLibraries.gmk
index 8733a8617c9..b6d1abaf268 100644
--- a/make/modules/java.desktop/lib/ClientLibraries.gmk
+++ b/make/modules/java.desktop/lib/ClientLibraries.gmk
@@ -407,6 +407,7 @@ $(eval $(call SetupJdkLibrary, BUILD_LIBFONTMANAGER, \
     LDFLAGS_aix := -Wl$(COMMA)-berok, \
     JDK_LIBS := libawt java.base:libjava $(LIBFONTMANAGER_JDK_LIBS), \
     JDK_LIBS_macosx := libawt_lwawt, \
+    JDK_LIBS_unix := java.base:libjvm, \
     LIBS := $(LIBFONTMANAGER_LIBS), \
     LIBS_unix := $(LIBM), \
     LIBS_macosx := \
diff --git a/src/java.desktop/share/native/libfontmanager/freetypeScaler.c b/src/java.desktop/share/native/libfontmanager/freetypeScaler.c
index 37c6dba2a78..d76b9ea648b 100644
--- a/src/java.desktop/share/native/libfontmanager/freetypeScaler.c
+++ b/src/java.desktop/share/native/libfontmanager/freetypeScaler.c
@@ -32,6 +32,7 @@
 #include <stdlib.h>
 #if !defined(_WIN32) && !defined(__APPLE_)
 #include <dlfcn.h>
+#include "jvm.h"
 #endif
 #include <math.h>
 #include "ft2build.h"
@@ -298,6 +299,19 @@ static void setInterpreterVersion(FT_Library library) {
 #if defined(_WIN32) || defined(__APPLE__)
     FT_Property_Set(library, module, property, (void*)(&version));
 #else
+
+    if (JVM_IsStaticallyLinked()) {
+      // The bundled libfreetype may be statically linked with
+      // the launcher.
+      if (dlsym(RTLD_DEFAULT, "FT_Property_Set") != NULL) {
+        FT_Property_Set(library, module, property, (void*)(&version));
+        return;
+      }
+
+      // libfreetype is not statically linked with the executable,
+      // fall through to find the system provided library dynamically.
+    }
+
     void *lib = dlopen("libfreetype.so", RTLD_LOCAL|RTLD_LAZY);
     if (lib == NULL) {
         lib = dlopen("libfreetype.so.6", RTLD_LOCAL|RTLD_LAZY);