diff --git a/python/tests/test_persistence.py b/python/tests/test_persistence.py
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..adab7c9
--- /dev/null
+++ b/python/tests/test_persistence.py
@@ -0,0 +1,82 @@
+from __future__ import annotations
+
+import sys
+from io import BytesIO
+from pathlib import Path
+from typing import Any
+
+import pytest
+
+PACKAGE_ROOT = Path(__file__).resolve().parents[2] / "python" / "python"
+if str(PACKAGE_ROOT) not in sys.path:
+    sys.path.insert(0, str(PACKAGE_ROOT))
+
+lance = pytest.importorskip("lance")
+
+from lance_context.api import Context
+
+
+def _read_rows(uri: str, version: int | None = None) -> list[dict[str, object]]:
+    dataset = lance.dataset(uri, version=version) if version is not None else lance.dataset(uri)
+    table = dataset.to_table()
+    return table.to_pylist()
+
+
+def _image_bytes(image: Any, *, format: str | None = None) -> bytes:
+    buffer = BytesIO()
+    image.save(buffer, format=format or getattr(image, "format", None) or "PNG")
+    return buffer.getvalue()
+
+
+def test_text_round_trip(tmp_path: Path) -> None:
+    uri = tmp_path / "context.lance"
+    ctx = Context.create(str(uri))
+    ctx.add("user", "hello world")
+
+    rows = _read_rows(str(uri))
+    assert len(rows) == 1
+
+    record = rows[0]
+    assert record["role"] == "user"
+    assert record["text_payload"] == "hello world"
+    assert record["binary_payload"] is None
+    assert record["content_type"] == "text/plain"
+
+
+def test_image_round_trip(tmp_path: Path) -> None:
+    Image = pytest.importorskip("PIL.Image")
+    uri = tmp_path / "context.lance"
+    ctx = Context.create(str(uri))
+
+    image = Image.new("RGB", (4, 4), color="magenta")
+    ctx.add("assistant", image)
+
+    rows = _read_rows(str(uri))
+    assert len(rows) == 1
+
+    record = rows[0]
+    assert record["role"] == "assistant"
+    assert record["text_payload"] is None
+    assert record["content_type"] == "image/png"
+    assert record["binary_payload"] == _image_bytes(image)
+
+
+def test_time_travel_checkout(tmp_path: Path) -> None:
+    uri = tmp_path / "context.lance"
+    ctx = Context.create(str(uri))
+
+    ctx.add("system", "first-entry")
+    version_first = ctx.version()
+
+    ctx.add("system", "second-entry")
+    version_second = ctx.version()
+    assert version_second >= version_first
+
+    ctx.checkout(version_first)
+
+    rows_versioned = _read_rows(str(uri), version=ctx.version())
+    assert len(rows_versioned) == 1
+    assert rows_versioned[0]["text_payload"] == "first-entry"
+
+    latest_rows = _read_rows(str(uri))
+    assert [row["text_payload"] for row in latest_rows] == ["first-entry", "second-entry"]