diff --git a/IPython/core/interactiveshell.py b/IPython/core/interactiveshell.py
index 14beee8..b7e93db 100644
--- a/IPython/core/interactiveshell.py
+++ b/IPython/core/interactiveshell.py
@@ -1456,11 +1456,13 @@ class InteractiveShell(SingletonConfigurable, Magic):
             print 'Object `%s` not found.' % oname
             return 'not found'  # so callers can take other action
 
-    def object_inspect(self, oname):
+    def object_inspect(self, oname, detail_level=0):
         with self.builtin_trap:
             info = self._object_find(oname)
             if info.found:
-                return self.inspector.info(info.obj, oname, info=info)
+                return self.inspector.info(info.obj, oname, info=info,
+                            detail_level=detail_level
+                )
             else:
                 return oinspect.object_info(name=oname, found=False)
 
diff --git a/IPython/zmq/ipkernel.py b/IPython/zmq/ipkernel.py
index 413d7c2..3164d4a 100755
--- a/IPython/zmq/ipkernel.py
+++ b/IPython/zmq/ipkernel.py
@@ -364,7 +364,10 @@ class Kernel(Configurable):
         self.log.debug(str(completion_msg))
 
     def object_info_request(self, ident, parent):
-        object_info = self.shell.object_inspect(parent['content']['oname'])
+        content = parent['content']
+        object_info = self.shell.object_inspect(content['oname'],
+                        detail_level = content.get('detail_level', 0)
+        )
         # Before we send this object over, we scrub it for JSON usage
         oinfo = json_clean(object_info)
         msg = self.session.send(self.shell_socket, 'object_info_reply',
diff --git a/IPython/zmq/kernelmanager.py b/IPython/zmq/kernelmanager.py
index f531a40..974b3fe 100644
--- a/IPython/zmq/kernelmanager.py
+++ b/IPython/zmq/kernelmanager.py
@@ -297,19 +297,21 @@ class ShellSocketChannel(ZMQSocketChannel):
         self._queue_send(msg)
         return msg['header']['msg_id']
 
-    def object_info(self, oname):
+    def object_info(self, oname, detail_level=0):
         """Get metadata information about an object.
 
         Parameters
         ----------
         oname : str
             A string specifying the object name.
+        detail_level : int, optional
+            The level of detail for the introspection (0-2)
 
         Returns
         -------
         The msg_id of the message sent.
         """
-        content = dict(oname=oname)
+        content = dict(oname=oname, detail_level=detail_level)
         msg = self.session.msg('object_info_request', content)
         self._queue_send(msg)
         return msg['header']['msg_id']