diff --git a/src/OpenMesh/Core/Geometry/Vector11T.hh b/src/OpenMesh/Core/Geometry/Vector11T.hh
index e29f5013..4d8792aa 100644
--- a/src/OpenMesh/Core/Geometry/Vector11T.hh
+++ b/src/OpenMesh/Core/Geometry/Vector11T.hh
@@ -81,6 +81,9 @@ namespace OpenMesh {
 
 template<typename Scalar, int DIM>
 class VectorT {
+
+        static_assert(DIM >= 1, "VectorT requires positive dimensionality.");
+
     private:
         std::array<Scalar, DIM> values_;
 
@@ -154,9 +157,10 @@ class VectorT {
                     1);
         }
 
-        /// construct from a value array (explicit)
-        explicit inline VectorT(const Scalar _values[DIM]) {
-            std::copy(_values, _values + DIM, values_.begin());
+        /// construct from a value array or any other iterator
+        template<typename Iterator>
+        explicit inline VectorT(Iterator it) {
+            std::copy_n(it, DIM, values_.begin());
         }
 
         /// copy & cast constructor (explicit)
diff --git a/src/Unittests/unittests_vector_type.cc b/src/Unittests/unittests_vector_type.cc
index e6bf0176..bb27754d 100644
--- a/src/Unittests/unittests_vector_type.cc
+++ b/src/Unittests/unittests_vector_type.cc
@@ -1,6 +1,7 @@
 #include <gtest/gtest.h>
 #include <Unittests/unittests_common.hh>
 #include <iostream>
+#include <list>
 
 namespace {
 
@@ -171,6 +172,15 @@ TEST_F(OpenMeshVectorTest, move_constructor_assignment) {
     EXPECT_EQ(3, C::copy_con);
 }
 
+TEST_F(OpenMeshVectorTest, iterator_init) {
+    std::list<float> a;
+    a.push_back(1.0);
+    a.push_back(2.0);
+    a.push_back(3.0);
+    OpenMesh::Vec3f v(a.begin());
+    EXPECT_EQ(OpenMesh::Vec3f(1.0, 2.0, 3.0), v);
+}
+
 #endif // C++11
 
 
@@ -200,6 +210,12 @@ TEST_F(OpenMeshVectorTest, BasicLinearAlgebra) {
     EXPECT_NEAR(14, OpenMesh::Vec3d(-1, -2, -3) | OpenMesh::Vec3d(-1, -2, -3), 1e-6);
 }
 
+TEST_F(OpenMeshVectorTest, array_init) {
+    float a[3]; a[0] = 1.0; a[1] = 2.0; a[2] = 3.0;
+    OpenMesh::Vec3f v(a);
+    EXPECT_EQ(OpenMesh::Vec3f(1.0, 2.0, 3.0), v);
+}
+
 TEST_F(OpenMeshVectorTest, normalized_cond) {
     OpenMesh::Vec3d v1(1, -2, 3), v2(0, 0, 0);
     EXPECT_EQ(OpenMesh::Vec3d(0, 0, 0), v2.normalize_cond());