diff --git a/include/pybind11/numpy.h b/include/pybind11/numpy.h
index 1dc2d04b9..4111ccd7b 100644
--- a/include/pybind11/numpy.h
+++ b/include/pybind11/numpy.h
@@ -189,7 +189,7 @@ public:
     static dtype from_args(object args) {
         PyObject *ptr = nullptr;
         if (!detail::npy_api::get().PyArray_DescrConverter_(args.release().ptr(), &ptr) || !ptr)
-            pybind11_fail("NumPy: failed to create structured dtype");
+            throw error_already_set();
         return object(ptr, false);
     }