title: Creating array with single structured element containing an array
body: <p>I have a dtype like this:</p>
  <pre><code>&gt;&gt;&gt; dt = np.dtype([('x', object, 3)])
  &gt;&gt;&gt; dt
  dtype([('x', 'O', (3,))])
  </code></pre>
  <p>One field named 'x', containing three pointers. I would like to construct an array with a single element of this type:</p>
  <pre><code>&gt;&gt;&gt; a = np.array([(['a', 'b', 'c'])], dtype=dt)
  &gt;&gt;&gt; b = np.array([(np.array(['a', 'b', 'c'], dtype=object))], dtype=dt)
  &gt;&gt;&gt; c = np.array((['a', 'b', 'c']), dtype=dt)
  &gt;&gt;&gt; d = np.array(['a', 'b', 'c'], dtype=dt)
  
  &gt;&gt;&gt; e = np.array([([['a', 'b', 'c']])], dtype=dt)
  </code></pre>
  <p>All five of these statements yield the same incorrect result:</p>
  <pre><code>array([[(['a', 'a', 'a'],), (['b', 'b', 'b'],), (['c', 'c', 'c'],)]],
        dtype=[('x', 'O', (3,))])
  </code></pre>
  <p>If I try to drop the inner list/array, I get an error:</p>
  <pre><code>&gt;&gt;&gt; f = np.array([('a', 'b', 'c')], dtype=dt)
  ValueError: could not assign tuple of length 3 to structure with 1 fields.
  </code></pre>
  <p>Same error happens for</p>
  <pre><code>&gt;&gt;&gt; g = np.array(('a', 'b', 'c'), dtype=dt)
  </code></pre>
  <p>I've run out of possible combinations to try. The result I am looking for is</p>
  <pre><code> array([(['a', 'b', 'c'],)], dtype=[('x', 'O', (3,))])
  </code></pre>
  <p>How do I create an array that has one element of the specified dtype?</p>
  <p>So far, the only approach that I've found is manual assignment:</p>
  <pre><code>z = np.empty(1, dtype=dt)
  z['x'][0, :] = ['a', 'b', 'c']
  </code></pre>
  <p>OR</p>
  <pre><code>z[0]['x'] = ['a', 'b', 'c']
  </code></pre>
  <p>This seems like an unnecessary workaround for something that <code>np.array</code> ought to be able to handle out of the box.</p>