--- a/@pyobject/pyobject.m	Wed Aug 10 10:21:22 2016 -0700
+++ b/@pyobject/pyobject.m	Thu Aug 11 16:12:35 2016 -0700
@@ -275,6 +275,21 @@
 %!assert (ndims (a), 3)
 %!shared
 
+## Test conversion of scalar struct into a Python dict
+%!shared s1
+%! s1.name = "Octave";
+%! s1.value = 42;
+%! s1.counts = {1, 2, 3};
+%! s1.ok = true;
+%!assert (isa (pyobject (s1), "pyobject"))
+%!assert (class (pyobject (s1)), "py.dict")
+%!assert (char (pyobject (s1){"name"}), "Octave")
+%!assert (pyobject (s1){"value"}, 42)
+%!assert (pyobject (s1){"ok"}, true)
+
+%!error pyobject (struct ("a", {}))
+%!error pyobject (struct ("a", {1, 2}))
+
 %!assert (char (pyeval ("None")), "None")
 %!assert (char (pyeval ("'this is a string'")), "this is a string")
 %!assert (char (pyeval ("[1, 2, 3, 4, 5]")), "[1, 2, 3, 4, 5]")

--- a/Makefile.am	Wed Aug 10 10:21:22 2016 -0700
+++ b/Makefile.am	Thu Aug 11 16:12:35 2016 -0700
@@ -30,6 +30,7 @@
 COMMON_SOURCE_FILES = \
   exceptions.cc \
   octave_to_python.cc \
+  oct-py-types.cc \
   python_to_octave.cc \
   pytave_utils.cc
 
@@ -48,6 +49,7 @@
   arrayobjectdefs.h \
   config.h \
   exceptions.h \
+  oct-py-types.h \
   octave_to_python.h \
   python_to_octave.h \
   pytave_utils.h

--- /dev/null	Thu Jan 01 00:00:00 1970 +0000
+++ b/oct-py-types.cc	Thu Aug 11 16:12:35 2016 -0700
@@ -0,0 +1,67 @@
+/*
+
+Copyright (C) 2016 Mike Miller
+
+This file is part of Pytave.
+
+Pytave is free software; you can redistribute it and/or modify it
+under the terms of the GNU General Public License as published by the
+Free Software Foundation; either version 3 of the License, or (at your
+option) any later version.
+
+Pytave is distributed in the hope that it will be useful, but WITHOUT
+ANY WARRANTY; without even the implied warranty of MERCHANTABILITY or
+FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE.  See the GNU General Public License
+for more details.
+
+You should have received a copy of the GNU General Public License
+along with Pytave; see the file COPYING.  If not, see
+<http://www.gnu.org/licenses/>.
+
+*/
+
+#if defined (HAVE_CONFIG_H)
+#  include <config.h>
+#endif
+
+#include <octave/oct-map.h>
+#include <octave/quit.h>
+
+#include "oct-py-types.h"
+
+// FIXME: only here to bootstrap nested conversions needed in this file
+#include "octave_to_python.h"
+
+namespace pytave
+{
+
+inline PyObject *
+wrap_octvalue_to_pyobj (const octave_value& value)
+{
+  boost::python::object obj;
+  octvalue_to_pyobj (obj, value);
+  PyObject *ptr = obj.ptr ();
+  Py_INCREF (ptr);
+  return ptr;
+}
+
+PyObject *
+make_py_dict (const octave_scalar_map& map)
+{
+  PyObject *dict = PyDict_New ();
+  if (! dict)
+    octave_throw_bad_alloc ();
+
+  for (auto p = map.begin (); p != map.end (); ++p)
+    {
+      PyObject *key = wrap_octvalue_to_pyobj (map.key (p));
+      PyObject *item = wrap_octvalue_to_pyobj (map.contents (p));
+
+      if (PyDict_SetItem (dict, key, item) < 0)
+        throw boost::python::error_already_set ();
+    }
+
+  return dict;
+}
+
+}

--- /dev/null	Thu Jan 01 00:00:00 1970 +0000
+++ b/oct-py-types.h	Thu Aug 11 16:12:35 2016 -0700
@@ -0,0 +1,38 @@
+/*
+
+Copyright (C) 2016 Mike Miller
+
+This file is part of Pytave.
+
+Pytave is free software; you can redistribute it and/or modify it
+under the terms of the GNU General Public License as published by the
+Free Software Foundation; either version 3 of the License, or (at your
+option) any later version.
+
+Pytave is distributed in the hope that it will be useful, but WITHOUT
+ANY WARRANTY; without even the implied warranty of MERCHANTABILITY or
+FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE.  See the GNU General Public License
+for more details.
+
+You should have received a copy of the GNU General Public License
+along with Pytave; see the file COPYING.  If not, see
+<http://www.gnu.org/licenses/>.
+
+*/
+
+#if ! defined (pytave_oct_py_types_h)
+#define pytave_oct_py_types_h 1
+
+#include <Python.h>
+
+class octave_scalar_map;
+
+namespace pytave
+{
+
+PyObject *
+make_py_dict (const octave_scalar_map& map);
+
+}
+
+#endif

--- a/octave_to_python.cc	Wed Aug 10 10:21:22 2016 -0700
+++ b/octave_to_python.cc	Thu Aug 11 16:12:35 2016 -0700
@@ -37,6 +37,7 @@
 #include "arrayobjectdefs.h"
 #include "exceptions.h"
 #include "octave_to_python.h"
+#include "oct-py-types.h"
 
 using namespace boost::python;
 
@@ -332,8 +333,11 @@
     else if (octvalue.is_numeric_type () || octvalue.is_string ()
              || octvalue.is_bool_type ())
       octvalue_to_pyarr (py_object, octvalue);
-    else if (octvalue.is_map ())
-      octmap_to_pyobject (py_object, octvalue.map_value ());
+    else if (octvalue.is_map () && octvalue.numel () == 1)
+      {
+        PyObject *obj = make_py_dict (octvalue.scalar_map_value ());
+        py_object = object (handle<PyObject> (obj));
+      }
     else if (octvalue.is_object () && octvalue.class_name () == "pyobject")
       {
         octave_value_list tmp = feval ("getid", ovl (octvalue), 1);