diff --git a/nodejs/__test__/arrow.test.ts b/nodejs/__test__/arrow.test.ts
index 4386dffed..9ddcbebd7 100644
--- a/nodejs/__test__/arrow.test.ts
+++ b/nodejs/__test__/arrow.test.ts
@@ -1,5 +1,7 @@
 // SPDX-License-Identifier: Apache-2.0
 // SPDX-FileCopyrightText: Copyright The LanceDB Authors
+import * as fs from "node:fs";
+import * as vm from "node:vm";
 import * as arrow15 from "apache-arrow-15";
 import * as arrow16 from "apache-arrow-16";
 import * as arrow17 from "apache-arrow-17";
@@ -36,6 +38,42 @@ function sampleRecords(): Array<Record<string, any>> {
     },
   ];
 }
+
+it("serializes an Arrow Table created in another JavaScript realm", async () => {
+  const context = vm.createContext({
+    TextDecoder,
+    TextEncoder,
+    console,
+    setTimeout,
+    clearTimeout,
+  });
+  vm.runInContext(
+    fs.readFileSync(
+      require.resolve("apache-arrow-15/Arrow.es2015.min"),
+      "utf8",
+    ),
+    context,
+  );
+  const foreignTable: unknown = vm.runInContext(
+    "Arrow.tableFromArrays({ id: new Int32Array([1, 2, 3]), text: ['foo', 'bar', 'baz'] })",
+    context,
+  );
+
+  const foreignMetadata = (
+    foreignTable as { schema: { metadata: Map<string, string> } }
+  ).schema.metadata;
+  expect(foreignMetadata).not.toBeInstanceOf(Map);
+
+  const buf = await fromDataToBuffer(
+    foreignTable as Parameters<typeof fromDataToBuffer>[0],
+  );
+  const actual = currentTableFromIPC(buf);
+
+  expect(actual.numRows).toBe(3);
+  expect(actual.getChild("id")?.toJSON()).toEqual([1, 2, 3]);
+  expect(actual.getChild("text")?.toJSON()).toEqual(["foo", "bar", "baz"]);
+});
+
 describe.each([arrow15, arrow16, arrow17, arrow18])(
   "Arrow",
   (
@@ -64,7 +102,6 @@ describe.each([arrow15, arrow16, arrow17, arrow18])(
       Float32,
       FixedSizeList,
       Precision,
-      tableFromArrays,
       tableFromIPC,
       DataType,
       Dictionary,
@@ -1062,21 +1099,6 @@ describe.each([arrow15, arrow16, arrow17, arrow18])(
     });
 
     describe("when using two versions of arrow", function () {
-      it("preserves rows from a foreign Arrow Table", async function () {
-        const foreignTable = tableFromArrays({
-          id: new Int32Array([1, 2]),
-          text: ["foo", "bar"],
-        });
-
-        // biome-ignore lint/suspicious/noExplicitAny: Arrow Tables from supported versions are structurally compatible
-        const buf = await fromDataToBuffer(foreignTable as any);
-        const actual = tableFromIPC(buf);
-
-        expect(actual.numRows).toBe(2);
-        expect(actual.getChild("id")?.toJSON()).toEqual([1, 2]);
-        expect(actual.getChild("text")?.toJSON()).toEqual(["foo", "bar"]);
-      });
-
       it("preserves a dictionary shared by multiple fields", async function () {
         const values = ["alpha", "beta", "alpha"];
         const dictionaryVector = vectorFromArray(values);
diff --git a/nodejs/lancedb/sanitize.ts b/nodejs/lancedb/sanitize.ts
index 8fb2f1a0a..454c82247 100644
--- a/nodejs/lancedb/sanitize.ts
+++ b/nodejs/lancedb/sanitize.ts
@@ -94,17 +94,24 @@ export function sanitizeMetadata(
   if (metadataLike === undefined || metadataLike === null) {
     return undefined;
   }
-  if (!(metadataLike instanceof Map)) {
+
+  let entries: IterableIterator<[unknown, unknown]>;
+  try {
+    entries = Map.prototype.entries.call(metadataLike);
+  } catch {
     throw Error("Expected metadata, if present, to be a Map<string, string>");
   }
-  for (const item of metadataLike) {
-    if (typeof item[0] !== "string" || typeof item[1] !== "string") {
+
+  const metadata = new Map<string, string>();
+  for (const [key, value] of entries) {
+    if (typeof key !== "string" || typeof value !== "string") {
       throw Error(
         "Expected metadata, if present, to be a Map<string, string> but it had non-string keys or values",
       );
     }
+    metadata.set(key, value);
   }
-  return metadataLike as Map<string, string>;
+  return metadata;
 }
 
 export function sanitizeInt(typeLike: object) {