diff --git a/tests/test_numpy_array.cpp b/tests/test_numpy_array.cpp
index 5702594..cdf0b82 100644
--- a/tests/test_numpy_array.cpp
+++ b/tests/test_numpy_array.cpp
@@ -68,6 +68,9 @@
     return l.release();
 }
 
+// note: declaration at local scope would create a dangling reference!
+static int data_i = 42;
+
 TEST_SUBMODULE(numpy_array, sm) {
     try { py::module::import("numpy"); }
     catch (...) { return; }
@@ -104,6 +107,8 @@
 
     // test_empty_shaped_array
     sm.def("make_empty_shaped_array", [] { return py::array(py::dtype("f"), {}, {}); });
+    // test numpy scalars (empty shape, ndim==0)
+    sm.def("scalar_int", []() { return py::array(py::dtype("i"), {}, {}, &data_i); });
 
     // test_wrap
     sm.def("wrap", [](py::array a) {
diff --git a/tests/test_numpy_array.py b/tests/test_numpy_array.py
index 8ac0e66..8bacb7f 100644
--- a/tests/test_numpy_array.py
+++ b/tests/test_numpy_array.py
@@ -138,6 +138,11 @@
 def test_make_empty_shaped_array():
     m.make_empty_shaped_array()
 
+    # empty shape means numpy scalar, PEP 3118
+    assert m.scalar_int().ndim == 0
+    assert m.scalar_int().shape == ()
+    assert m.scalar_int() == 42
+
 
 def test_wrap():
     def assert_references(a, b, base=None):