--- a/scripts/plot/surface.m
+++ b/scripts/plot/surface.m
@@ -41,21 +41,15 @@
 
 function h = surface (varargin)
 
-  if (isscalar (varargin{1}) && ishandle (varargin{1}))
-    h = varargin{1};
-    if (! strcmp (get (h, "type"), "axes"))
-      error ("surface: expecting first argument to be an axes object");
-    endif
-    oldh = gca ();
-    unwind_protect
-      axes (h);
-      [tmp, bad_usage] = __surface__ (h, varargin{2:end});
-    unwind_protect_cleanup
-      axes (oldh);
-    end_unwind_protect
-  else
-    [tmp, bad_usage] = __surface__ (gca (), varargin{:});
-  endif
+  [h, varargin] = __plt_get_axis_arg__ ("surface", varargin{:});
+
+  oldh = gca ();
+  unwind_protect
+    axes (h);
+    [tmp, bad_usage] = __surface__ (h, varargin{:});
+  unwind_protect_cleanup
+    axes (oldh);
+  end_unwind_protect
 
   if (bad_usage)
     print_usage ();