diff --git a/IPython/html/static/notebook/js/widgets/widget.js b/IPython/html/static/notebook/js/widgets/widget.js
index f535f42..8f69a7d 100644
--- a/IPython/html/static/notebook/js/widgets/widget.js
+++ b/IPython/html/static/notebook/js/widgets/widget.js
@@ -94,7 +94,7 @@ function(WidgetManager, _, Backbone){
             _.each(state, function(value, key) {
                 that.key_value_lock = [key, value];
                 try {
-                    that.set(key, that._unpack_models(value));
+                    WidgetModel.__super__.set.apply(that, [key, that._unpack_models(value)]);
                 } finally {
                     that.key_value_lock = null;
                 }