diff --git a/src/Text/Pandoc/Readers/HTML.hs b/src/Text/Pandoc/Readers/HTML.hs
index f02f1a1d4..7e7d505ac 100644
--- a/src/Text/Pandoc/Readers/HTML.hs
+++ b/src/Text/Pandoc/Readers/HTML.hs
@@ -684,9 +684,11 @@ pSpan = try $ do
   guardEnabled Ext_native_spans
   TagOpen _ attr <- lookAhead $ pSatisfy $ tagOpen (=="span") (const True)
   contents <- pInTags "span" inline
-  let isSmallCaps = fontVariant == "small-caps"
+  let isSmallCaps = fontVariant == "small-caps" || "smallcaps" `elem` classes
                     where styleAttr   = fromMaybe "" $ lookup "style" attr
                           fontVariant = fromMaybe "" $ pickStyleAttrProps ["font-variant"] styleAttr
+                          classes     = fromMaybe [] $
+                                          words <$> lookup "class" attr
   let tag = if isSmallCaps then B.smallcaps else B.spanWith (mkAttr attr)
   return $ tag contents
 
diff --git a/src/Text/Pandoc/Writers/Markdown.hs b/src/Text/Pandoc/Writers/Markdown.hs
index d34ccb0f6..7dc472568 100644
--- a/src/Text/Pandoc/Writers/Markdown.hs
+++ b/src/Text/Pandoc/Writers/Markdown.hs
@@ -971,10 +971,7 @@ inlineToMarkdown opts (SmallCaps lst) = do
   plain <- asks envPlain
   if not plain &&
      (isEnabled Ext_raw_html opts || isEnabled Ext_native_spans opts)
-     then do
-       contents <- inlineListToMarkdown opts lst
-       return $ tagWithAttrs "span" ("",["smallcaps"],[])
-             <> contents <> text "</span>"
+     then inlineToMarkdown opts (Span ("",["smallcaps"],[]) lst)
      else inlineListToMarkdown opts $ capitalize lst
 inlineToMarkdown opts (Quoted SingleQuote lst) = do
   contents <- inlineListToMarkdown opts lst
diff --git a/test/command/1592.md b/test/command/1592.md
new file mode 100644
index 000000000..54e59137b
--- /dev/null
+++ b/test/command/1592.md
@@ -0,0 +1,49 @@
+```
+% pandoc -t native
+[hi]{.smallcaps}
+^D
+[Para [SmallCaps [Str "hi"]]]
+```
+
+```
+% pandoc -t native
+[hi]{style="font-variant: small-caps;"}
+^D
+[Para [SmallCaps [Str "hi"]]]
+```
+
+```
+% pandoc -t native
+<span class="smallcaps">hi</span>
+^D
+[Para [SmallCaps [Str "hi"]]]
+```
+
+```
+% pandoc -f html -t native
+<p><span class="smallcaps">hi</span></p>
+^D
+[Para [SmallCaps [Str "hi"]]]
+```
+
+```
+% pandoc -f html -t native
+<p><span style="font-variant:small-caps">hi</span></p>
+^D
+[Para [SmallCaps [Str "hi"]]]
+```
+
+```
+% pandoc -f native -t html
+[Para [SmallCaps [Str "hi"]]]
+^D
+<p><span class="smallcaps">hi</span></p>
+```
+
+```
+pandoc -f native -t markdown
+[Para [SmallCaps [Str "hi"]]]
+^D
+[hi]{.smallcaps}
+```
+