diff --git a/json-path/src/main/java/com/jayway/jsonpath/spi/json/JacksonJsonNodeJsonProvider.java b/json-path/src/main/java/com/jayway/jsonpath/spi/json/JacksonJsonNodeJsonProvider.java
index c47c65c8..f755c07e 100644
--- a/json-path/src/main/java/com/jayway/jsonpath/spi/json/JacksonJsonNodeJsonProvider.java
+++ b/json-path/src/main/java/com/jayway/jsonpath/spi/json/JacksonJsonNodeJsonProvider.java
@@ -12,6 +12,7 @@ import com.jayway.jsonpath.JsonPathException;
 import java.io.IOException;
 import java.io.InputStream;
 import java.io.InputStreamReader;
+import java.math.BigDecimal;
 import java.util.ArrayList;
 import java.util.Collection;
 import java.util.Iterator;
@@ -151,12 +152,13 @@ public class JacksonJsonNodeJsonProvider extends AbstractJsonProvider {
         }
     }
 
-    @Override
-    public void setProperty(Object obj, Object key, Object value) {
-        if (isMap(obj))
-            toJsonObject(obj).put(key.toString(), createJsonElement(value));
-        else {
-            ArrayNode array = toJsonArray(obj);
+	@Override
+	public void setProperty(Object obj, Object key, Object value) {
+		// jlolling: Bug: #211 avoid create cloned nodes
+        if (isMap(obj)) {
+        	setValueInObjectNode((ObjectNode) obj, key, value);
+        } else {
+            ArrayNode array = (ArrayNode) obj;
             int index;
             if (key != null) {
                 index = key instanceof Integer ? (Integer) key : Integer.parseInt(key.toString());
@@ -169,11 +171,8 @@ public class JacksonJsonNodeJsonProvider extends AbstractJsonProvider {
                 array.set(index, createJsonElement(value));
             }
         }
-    }
-
-
+	}
 
-    @SuppressWarnings("unchecked")
     public void removeProperty(Object obj, Object key) {
         if (isMap(obj))
             toJsonObject(obj).remove(key.toString());
@@ -226,7 +225,16 @@ public class JacksonJsonNodeJsonProvider extends AbstractJsonProvider {
     }
 
     private JsonNode createJsonElement(Object o) {
-        return objectMapper.valueToTree(o);
+    	if (o != null) {
+    		// jlolling: avoid creating a cloned node: bug #211
+    		if (o instanceof JsonNode) {
+    			return (JsonNode) o;
+    		} else {
+    	        return objectMapper.valueToTree(o);
+    		}
+    	} else {
+    		return null;
+    	}
     }
 
     private ArrayNode toJsonArray(Object o) {
@@ -237,5 +245,33 @@ public class JacksonJsonNodeJsonProvider extends AbstractJsonProvider {
         return (ObjectNode) o;
     }
 
+	private void setValueInObjectNode(ObjectNode objectNode, Object key, Object value) {
+		// jlolling: necessary to avoid deprecated methods and to avoid creating a cloned node. Bug: #211
+    	if (value instanceof JsonNode) {
+            objectNode.set(key.toString(), (JsonNode) value);
+    	} else if (value instanceof String) {
+    		objectNode.put(key.toString(), (String) value);
+    	} else if (value instanceof Integer) {
+    		objectNode.put(key.toString(), (Integer) value);
+    	} else if (value instanceof Long) {
+    		objectNode.put(key.toString(), (Long) value);
+    	} else if (value instanceof Short) {
+    		objectNode.put(key.toString(), (Short) value);
+    	} else if (value instanceof Double) {
+    		objectNode.put(key.toString(), (Double) value);
+    	} else if (value instanceof Float) {
+    		objectNode.put(key.toString(), (Float) value);
+    	} else if (value instanceof BigDecimal) {
+    		objectNode.put(key.toString(), (BigDecimal) value);
+    	} else if (value instanceof Boolean) {
+    		objectNode.put(key.toString(), (Boolean) value);
+    	} else if (value instanceof byte[]) {
+    		objectNode.put(key.toString(), (byte[]) value);
+    	} else if (value == null) {
+    		objectNode.remove(key.toString());
+    	} else {
+    		throw new IllegalArgumentException("Cannot handle object type: " + value.getClass().getName());
+    	}
+	}
 
 }
diff --git a/json-path/src/test/java/com/jayway/jsonpath/JacksonJsonNodeJsonProviderTest.java b/json-path/src/test/java/com/jayway/jsonpath/JacksonJsonNodeJsonProviderTest.java
index 595fb14e..09401682 100644
--- a/json-path/src/test/java/com/jayway/jsonpath/JacksonJsonNodeJsonProviderTest.java
+++ b/json-path/src/test/java/com/jayway/jsonpath/JacksonJsonNodeJsonProviderTest.java
@@ -2,6 +2,7 @@ package com.jayway.jsonpath;
 
 import com.fasterxml.jackson.databind.JsonNode;
 import com.fasterxml.jackson.databind.node.ArrayNode;
+import com.fasterxml.jackson.databind.node.JsonNodeFactory;
 import com.fasterxml.jackson.databind.node.ObjectNode;
 import com.jayway.jsonpath.spi.mapper.MappingException;
 import org.junit.Test;
@@ -42,6 +43,20 @@ public class JacksonJsonNodeJsonProviderTest extends BaseTest {
         assertThat(node.get("string-property").asText()).isEqualTo("string-value");
     }
 
+    @Test
+    public void always_return_same_object() { // Test because of Bug #211
+    	DocumentContext context = using(JACKSON_JSON_NODE_CONFIGURATION).parse(JSON_DOCUMENT);
+        ObjectNode node1 = context.read("$");
+        ObjectNode child1 = new ObjectNode(JsonNodeFactory.instance);
+        child1.put("name", "test");
+        context.put("$", "child", child1);
+        ObjectNode node2 = context.read("$");
+        ObjectNode child2 = context.read("$.child");
+        
+        assertThat(node1).isSameAs(node2);
+        assertThat(child1).isSameAs(child2);
+    }
+
     @Test
     public void strings_are_unwrapped() {
         JsonNode node = using(JACKSON_JSON_NODE_CONFIGURATION).parse(JSON_DOCUMENT).read("$.string-property");