software-center won't start: cairo and/or libgdk-3 problem?

Question

I'm running Ubuntu 14.04.5. and I can no longer open the Ubuntu Software Center gui, either from the launcher or from terminal. When I enter software-center at the command line, the message returned is: /usr/bin/python: symbol lookup error: /usr/lib/x86_64-linux-gnu/libgdk-3.so.0: undefined symbol: cairo_surface_set_device_scale . I have already run apt-get update and apt-get upgrade, without noticeable effect. Any advice would be much appreciated!

EDIT 1: Note that sudo software-center encounters the same problem.

EDIT 2: Updating to Ubuntu 16.04 seems to at least partially fix the problem: I can now run Software Center from the launcher. Curiously, I still cannot start it from the command line. Doing so yields the error trace:

box:~> software-center
ERROR:root:DebFileApplication import
Traceback (most recent call last):
  File "/usr/share/software-center/softwarecenter/db/__init__.py", line 6, in <module>
    from .debfile import DebFileApplication, DebFileOpenError
  File "/usr/share/software-center/softwarecenter/db/debfile.py", line 25, in <module>
    from softwarecenter.db.application import Application, AppDetails
  File "/usr/share/software-center/softwarecenter/db/application.py", line 26, in <module>
    import xapian
  File "/home/ianc/anaconda2/lib/python2.7/site-packages/xapian/__init__.py", line 43, in <module>
    _xapian = swig_import_helper()
  File "/home/ianc/anaconda2/lib/python2.7/site-packages/xapian/__init__.py", line 39, in swig_import_helper
    _mod = imp.load_module('_xapian', fp, pathname, description)
ImportError: /home/ianc/anaconda2/lib/python2.7/site-packages/xapian/_xapian.so: undefined symbol: _ZN6Xapian5ErrorC2ERKSsS2_PKcS4_
Traceback (most recent call last):
  File "/usr/bin/software-center", line 128, in <module>
    from softwarecenter.ui.gtk3.app import SoftwareCenterAppGtk3
  File "/usr/share/software-center/softwarecenter/ui/gtk3/app.py", line 38, in <module>
    import xapian
  File "/home/ianc/anaconda2/lib/python2.7/site-packages/xapian/__init__.py", line 43, in <module>
    _xapian = swig_import_helper()
  File "/home/ianc/anaconda2/lib/python2.7/site-packages/xapian/__init__.py", line 39, in swig_import_helper
    _mod = imp.load_module('_xapian', fp, pathname, description)
ImportError: /home/ianc/anaconda2/lib/python2.7/site-packages/xapian/_xapian.so: undefined symbol: _ZN6Xapian5ErrorC2ERKSsS2_PKcS4_