diff --git a/r/R/metadata.R b/r/R/metadata.R
index ba73f0857881d..61e412be62450 100644
--- a/r/R/metadata.R
+++ b/r/R/metadata.R
@@ -107,15 +107,34 @@ safe_r_metadata <- function(metadata, on_save = FALSE) {
   # and mutate the `types_removed` variable outside of it.
   check_r_metadata_types_recursive <- function(x) {
     allowed_types <- c("character", "double", "integer", "logical", "complex", "list", "NULL")
+    # Pull out the attributes so we can also check them
+    x_attrs <- attributes(x)
+
     if (is.list(x)) {
+      # Add special handling for some base R classes that are list but
+      # their [[ methods leads to infinite recursion.
+      # We unclass here and then reapply attributes after.
+      x <- unclass(x)
+
       types <- map_chr(x, typeof)
-      x[types == "list"] <- map(x[types == "list"], check_r_metadata_types_recursive)
       ok <- types %in% allowed_types
       if (!all(ok)) {
         # Record the invalid types, then remove the offending elements
         types_removed <<- c(types_removed, setdiff(types, allowed_types))
         x <- x[ok]
+        if ("names" %in% names(x_attrs)) {
+          # Also prune from the attributes since we'll re-add later
+          x_attrs[["names"]] <- x_attrs[["names"]][ok]
+        }
       }
+      # For the rest, recurse
+      x <- map(x, check_r_metadata_types_recursive)
+    }
+
+    # attributes() of a named list will return a list with a "names" attribute,
+    # so it will recurse indefinitely.
+    if (!is.null(x_attrs) && !identical(x_attrs, list(names = names(x)))) {
+      attributes(x) <- check_r_metadata_types_recursive(x_attrs)
     }
     x
   }
diff --git a/r/tests/testthat/test-metadata.R b/r/tests/testthat/test-metadata.R
index 175e7ef3b6b73..06aa1535e0a36 100644
--- a/r/tests/testthat/test-metadata.R
+++ b/r/tests/testthat/test-metadata.R
@@ -149,6 +149,15 @@ arbitrary\040code\040was\040just\040executed
   )
 })
 
+test_that("R metadata processing doesn't choke on packageVersion() output", {
+  metadata <- list(version = packageVersion("base"))
+  expect_identical(safe_r_metadata(metadata), metadata)
+
+  df <- example_data[1:6]
+  attr(df, "version") <- packageVersion("base")
+  expect_equal_data_frame(Table$create(df), df)
+})
+
 test_that("Complex or unsafe attributes are pruned from R metadata, if they exist", {
   tab <- Table$create(example_data[1:6])
   bad <- new.env()
@@ -161,18 +170,24 @@ i Type: \"environment\"
 > If you trust the source, you can set `options(arrow.unsafe_metadata = TRUE)` to preserve them.",
     fixed = TRUE
   )
+  # Try hiding it even further, in attributes
+  bad_meta <- list(attributes = structure(list(), hidden_attr = bad))
+  tab$metadata <- list(r = rawToChar(serialize(bad_meta, NULL, ascii = TRUE)))
+  expect_warning(
+    as.data.frame(tab),
+    "Potentially unsafe or invalid elements have been discarded from R metadata.
+i Type: \"environment\"
+> If you trust the source, you can set `options(arrow.unsafe_metadata = TRUE)` to preserve them.",
+    fixed = TRUE
+  )
+
   # You can set an option to allow them through.
   # It still warns, just differently, and it doesn't prune the attributes
   withr::local_options(list("arrow.unsafe_metadata" = TRUE))
   expect_warning(
-    expect_warning(
-      as.data.frame(tab),
-      "R metadata may have unsafe or invalid elements
+    as.data.frame(tab),
+    "R metadata may have unsafe or invalid elements
 i Type: \"environment\""
-    ),
-    # This particular example ultimately fails because it's not a list
-    "Invalid metadata$r",
-    fixed = TRUE
   )
 })