diff --git a/swift/common/middleware/staticweb.py b/swift/common/middleware/staticweb.py
index bd799a8743..9638514da8 100644
--- a/swift/common/middleware/staticweb.py
+++ b/swift/common/middleware/staticweb.py
@@ -307,8 +307,7 @@ class StaticWeb(object):
                cgi.escape(env['PATH_INFO'])
         if self._listings_css:
             body += '  <link rel="stylesheet" type="text/css" ' \
-                        'href="%s%s" />\n' % \
-                    ('../' * prefix.count('/'), quote(self._listings_css))
+                        'href="%s" />\n' % (self._build_css_path(prefix))
         else:
             body += '  <style type="text/css">\n' \
                     '   h1 {font-size: 1em; font-weight: bold;}\n' \
@@ -366,6 +365,19 @@ class StaticWeb(object):
         self._log_response(env, resp.status_int)
         return resp(env, start_response)
 
+    def _build_css_path(self, prefix=''):
+        """
+        Constructs a relative path from a given prefix within the container.
+        URLs and paths starting with '/' are not modified.
+
+        :param prefix: The prefix for the container listing.
+        """
+        if self._listings_css.startswith(('/', 'http://', 'https://')):
+            css_path = quote(self._listings_css, ':/')
+        else:
+            css_path = '../' * prefix.count('/') + quote(self._listings_css)
+        return css_path
+
     def _handle_container(self, env, start_response):
         """
         Handles a possible static web request for a container.
diff --git a/test/unit/common/middleware/test_staticweb.py b/test/unit/common/middleware/test_staticweb.py
index bae185d925..260d78e1b2 100644
--- a/test/unit/common/middleware/test_staticweb.py
+++ b/test/unit/common/middleware/test_staticweb.py
@@ -182,11 +182,30 @@ class FakeApp(object):
             return self.listing(env, start_response,
                                 {'x-container-read': '.r:*',
                                  'x-container-meta-web-listings': 'f'})
+        elif env['PATH_INFO'] in ('/v1/a/c8', '/v1/a/c8/'):
+            return self.listing(env, start_response,
+                          {'x-container-read': '.r:*',
+                           'x-container-meta-web-error': 'error.html',
+                           'x-container-meta-web-listings': 't',
+                           'x-container-meta-web-listings-css': \
+                               'http://localhost/stylesheets/listing.css'})
+        elif env['PATH_INFO'] == '/v1/a/c8/subdir/':
+            return Response(status='404 Not Found')(env, start_response)
+        elif env['PATH_INFO'] in ('/v1/a/c9', '/v1/a/c9/'):
+            return self.listing(env, start_response,
+                          {'x-container-read': '.r:*',
+                           'x-container-meta-web-error': 'error.html',
+                           'x-container-meta-web-listings': 't',
+                           'x-container-meta-web-listings-css': \
+                               '/absolute/listing.css'})
+        elif env['PATH_INFO'] == '/v1/a/c9/subdir/':
+            return Response(status='404 Not Found')(env, start_response)
         else:
             raise Exception('Unknown path %r' % env['PATH_INFO'])
 
     def listing(self, env, start_response, headers):
-        if env['PATH_INFO'] in ('/v1/a/c3', '/v1/a/c4') and \
+        if env['PATH_INFO'] in ('/v1/a/c3', '/v1/a/c4', '/v1/a/c8', \
+               '/v1/a/c9') and \
                env['QUERY_STRING'] == 'delimiter=/&format=json&prefix=subdir/':
             headers.update({'X-Container-Object-Count': '11',
                             'X-Container-Bytes-Used': '73741',
@@ -417,6 +436,7 @@ class TestStaticWeb(unittest.TestCase):
         resp = Request.blank('/v1/a/c4/').get_response(self.test_staticweb)
         self.assertEquals(resp.status_int, 200)
         self.assert_('Listing of /v1/a/c4/' in resp.body)
+        self.assert_('href="listing.css"' in resp.body)
 
     def test_container4indexhtmlauthed(self):
         resp = Request.blank('/v1/a/c4').get_response(self.test_staticweb)
@@ -479,7 +499,7 @@ class TestStaticWeb(unittest.TestCase):
         self.assert_('Listing of /v1/a/c4/subdir/' in resp.body)
         self.assert_('</style>' not in resp.body)
         self.assert_('<link' in resp.body)
-        self.assert_('listing.css' in resp.body)
+        self.assert_('href="../listing.css"' in resp.body)
         self.assertEquals(resp.headers['content-type'],
                           'text/html; charset=UTF-8')
 
@@ -512,6 +532,40 @@ class TestStaticWeb(unittest.TestCase):
         resp = Request.blank('/v1/a/c7/').get_response(self.test_staticweb)
         self.assertEquals(resp.status_int, 404)
 
+    def test_container8listingcss(self):
+        resp = Request.blank(
+                '/v1/a/c8/').get_response(self.test_staticweb)
+        self.assertEquals(resp.status_int, 200)
+        self.assert_('Listing of /v1/a/c8/' in resp.body)
+        self.assert_('<link' in resp.body)
+        self.assert_(
+                'href="http://localhost/stylesheets/listing.css"' in resp.body)
+
+    def test_container8subdirlistingcss(self):
+        resp = Request.blank(
+                '/v1/a/c8/subdir/').get_response(self.test_staticweb)
+        self.assertEquals(resp.status_int, 200)
+        self.assert_('Listing of /v1/a/c8/subdir/' in resp.body)
+        self.assert_('<link' in resp.body)
+        self.assert_(
+                'href="http://localhost/stylesheets/listing.css"' in resp.body)
+
+    def test_container9listingcss(self):
+        resp = Request.blank(
+                '/v1/a/c9/').get_response(self.test_staticweb)
+        self.assertEquals(resp.status_int, 200)
+        self.assert_('Listing of /v1/a/c9/' in resp.body)
+        self.assert_('<link' in resp.body)
+        self.assert_('href="/absolute/listing.css"' in resp.body)
+
+    def test_container9subdirlistingcss(self):
+        resp = Request.blank(
+                '/v1/a/c9/subdir/').get_response(self.test_staticweb)
+        self.assertEquals(resp.status_int, 200)
+        self.assert_('Listing of /v1/a/c9/subdir/' in resp.body)
+        self.assert_('<link' in resp.body)
+        self.assert_('href="/absolute/listing.css"' in resp.body)
+
     def test_subrequest_once_if_possible(self):
         resp = Request.blank(
                 '/v1/a/c4/one.txt').get_response(self.test_staticweb)
@@ -519,8 +573,6 @@ class TestStaticWeb(unittest.TestCase):
         self.assertEquals(resp.headers['x-object-meta-test'], 'value')
         self.assertEquals(resp.body, '1')
         self.assertEquals(self.app.calls, 1)
-        
-
 
 if __name__ == '__main__':
     unittest.main()