diff --git a/openerp/addons/base/ir/ir_mail_server.py b/openerp/addons/base/ir/ir_mail_server.py
index 96fa9f52a88..8da0f34f0f9 100644
--- a/openerp/addons/base/ir/ir_mail_server.py
+++ b/openerp/addons/base/ir/ir_mail_server.py
@@ -236,15 +236,18 @@ class ir_mail_server(osv.osv):
         return connection
 
     def build_email(self, email_from, email_to, subject, body, email_cc=None, email_bcc=None, reply_to=False,
-               attachments=None, message_id=None, references=None, object_id=False, subtype='plain', headers=None):
+               attachments=None, message_id=None, references=None, object_id=False, subtype='plain', headers=None,
+               body_alternative=None, subtype_alternative='plain'):
         """Constructs an RFC2822 email.message.Message object based on the keyword arguments passed, and returns it.
 
            :param string email_from: sender email address
            :param list email_to: list of recipient addresses (to be joined with commas) 
            :param string subject: email subject (no pre-encoding/quoting necessary)
-           :param string body: email body, according to the ``subtype`` (by default, plaintext).
+           :param string body: email body, of the type ``subtype`` (by default, plaintext).
                                If html subtype is used, the message will be automatically converted
-                               to plaintext and wrapped in multipart/alternative.
+                               to plaintext and wrapped in multipart/alternative, unless an explicit
+                               ``body_alternative`` version is passed.
+           :param string body_alternative: optional alternative body, of the type specified in ``subtype_alternative``
            :param string reply_to: optional value of Reply-To header
            :param string object_id: optional tracking identifier, to be included in the message-id for
                                     recognizing replies. Suggested format for object-id is "res_id-model",
@@ -252,6 +255,8 @@ class ir_mail_server(osv.osv):
            :param string subtype: optional mime subtype for the text body (usually 'plain' or 'html'),
                                   must match the format of the ``body`` parameter. Default is 'plain',
                                   making the content part of the mail "text/plain".
+           :param string subtype_alternative: optional mime subtype of ``body_alternative`` (usually 'plain'
+                                              or 'html'). Default is 'plain'.
            :param list attachments: list of (filename, filecontents) pairs, where filecontents is a string
                                     containing the bytes of the attachment
            :param list email_cc: optional list of string values for CC header (to be joined with commas)
@@ -276,7 +281,7 @@ class ir_mail_server(osv.osv):
         if not body: body = u''
 
         email_body_utf8 = ustr(body).encode('utf-8')
-        email_text_part = MIMEText(email_body_utf8 or '', _subtype=subtype, _charset='utf-8')
+        email_text_part = MIMEText(email_body_utf8, _subtype=subtype, _charset='utf-8')
         msg = MIMEMultipart()
 
         if not message_id:
@@ -304,13 +309,21 @@ class ir_mail_server(osv.osv):
         for key, value in headers.iteritems():
             msg[ustr(key).encode('utf-8')] = encode_header(value)
 
-        if html2text and subtype == 'html':
-            # Always provide alternative text body if possible.
+        if subtype == 'html' and not body_alternative and html2text:
+            # Always provide alternative text body ourselves if possible.
             text_utf8 = tools.html2text(email_body_utf8.decode('utf-8')).encode('utf-8')
             alternative_part = MIMEMultipart(_subtype="alternative")
             alternative_part.attach(MIMEText(text_utf8, _charset='utf-8', _subtype='plain'))
             alternative_part.attach(email_text_part)
             msg.attach(alternative_part)
+        elif body_alternative:
+            # Include both alternatives, as specified, within a multipart/alternative part
+            alternative_part = MIMEMultipart(_subtype="alternative")
+            body_alternative_utf8 = ustr(body_alternative).encode('utf-8')
+            alternative_body_part = MIMEText(body_alternative_utf8, _subtype=subtype_alternative, _charset='utf-8')
+            alternative_part.attach(alternative_body_part)
+            alternative_part.attach(email_text_part)
+            msg.attach(alternative_part)
         else:
             msg.attach(email_text_part)