diff --git a/host/chez/host-class.ss b/host/chez/host-class.ss
index e9feafa..7a25f52 100644
--- a/host/chez/host-class.ss
+++ b/host/chez/host-class.ss
@@ -41,11 +41,17 @@
     ;; (thrown? Class …) match (records.ss ex-info-map?/ex-info-class).
     ((ex-info-map? x) (ex-info-class x))
     (else (jolt-str-render-one (jolt-type x)))))
-(define (jolt-class x)
+;; the class NAME of x (string), or nil for nil. (class x) wraps it in a Class
+;; value (make-class-obj, host-static-classes.ss) so it renders like a JVM Class
+;; while staying = its name string.
+(define (jolt-class-name x)
   (let loop ((as jolt-class-arms))
     (cond ((null? as) (jolt-class-base x))
           (((caar as) x) ((cdar as) x))
           (else (loop (cdr as))))))
+(define (jolt-class x)
+  (let ((n (jolt-class-name x)))
+    (if (jolt-nil? n) jolt-nil (make-class-obj n))))
 
 (def-var! "clojure.core" "class" jolt-class)
 
diff --git a/host/chez/host-static-classes.ss b/host/chez/host-static-classes.ss
index 06c3381..ba5bfba 100644
--- a/host/chez/host-static-classes.ss
+++ b/host/chez/host-static-classes.ss
@@ -643,5 +643,29 @@
                    (else 'none))))
         (if (eq? hit 'none) 'pass (if hit #t #f))))))
 
+;; java.lang.Class value: (class x) / (.getClass x) return one. It renders like
+;; the JVM — str/.toString -> "class <name>", pr -> "<name>", .getName -> "<name>"
+;; — but stays = and hash equal to its name STRING, so (= (class x) String),
+;; class-keyed maps/sets, multimethod dispatch on class, and instance? all keep
+;; working against the bare class-name tokens.
+(define (make-class-obj name) (make-jhost "class" (vector name)))
+(define (jclass? x) (and (jhost? x) (string=? (jhost-tag x) "class")))
+(define (jclass-name x) (vector-ref (jhost-state x) 0))
+(define (class-key x) (cond ((jclass? x) (jclass-name x)) ((string? x) x) (else #f)))
+(register-eq-arm! (lambda (a b) (or (jclass? a) (jclass? b)))
+                  (lambda (a b) (let ((ka (class-key a)) (kb (class-key b)))
+                                  (and ka kb (string=? ka kb) #t))))
+(register-hash-arm! jclass? (lambda (x) (jolt-hash (jclass-name x))))
+(register-str-render! jclass? (lambda (x) (string-append "class " (jclass-name x))))
+(register-pr-arm! jclass? (lambda (x) (jclass-name x)))
+(register-host-methods! "class"
+  (list (cons "getName" (lambda (self) (jclass-name self)))
+        (cons "getCanonicalName" (lambda (self) (jclass-name self)))
+        (cons "getSimpleName" (lambda (self) (hsc-last-segment (jclass-name self))))
+        (cons "toString" (lambda (self) (string-append "class " (jclass-name self))))
+        (cons "isArray" (lambda (self) (let ((n (jclass-name self)))
+                                         (and (fx>? (string-length n) 0) (char=? (string-ref n 0) #\[)))))
+        (cons "getClass" (lambda (self) (make-class-obj "java.lang.Class")))))
+
 ;; (jolt.host/table? x) — is x a host tagged-table?
 (def-var! "jolt.host" "table?" (lambda (x) (if (htable? x) #t #f)))
diff --git a/host/chez/records-interop.ss b/host/chez/records-interop.ss
index 0ef0c0a..cdc0e3d 100644
--- a/host/chez/records-interop.ss
+++ b/host/chez/records-interop.ss
@@ -72,11 +72,10 @@
       ((ex-info-map? val) (exception-isa? (last-dot (ex-info-class val)) (last-dot tname)))
       (else (case-string tname val)))))
 
-(define (instance-check type-sym val)
-  ;; normalize a bare (non-array) string class token to a symbol so every arm and
-  ;; the base table can read its name; array tokens ("[I") stay strings for the
-  ;; natives-array arm.
-  (let ((ts (if (and (string? type-sym)
+(define (instance-check type-sym0 val)
+  ;; a Class value as the type arg (instance? (class x) y) -> use its name string.
+  (let* ((type-sym (if (jclass? type-sym0) (jclass-name type-sym0) type-sym0))
+         (ts (if (and (string? type-sym)
                      (or (= 0 (string-length type-sym))
                          (not (char=? (string-ref type-sym 0) #\[))))
                 (jolt-symbol #f type-sym)
diff --git a/stdlib/clojure/test.clj b/stdlib/clojure/test.clj
index 789c350..3b55eac 100644
--- a/stdlib/clojure/test.clj
+++ b/stdlib/clojure/test.clj
@@ -74,8 +74,9 @@
   (let [w (last-seg wanted)]
     (if (or (= w "Exception") (= w "Throwable"))
       true
-      (let [c (class e)]
-        (and (string? c) (= (last-seg c) w))))))
+      (let [c (class e)
+            cn (cond (nil? c) nil (string? c) c :else (.getName c))]
+        (and cn (= (last-seg cn) w))))))
 
 ;; --- assertion macros ------------------------------------------------------
 
diff --git a/test/chez/corpus.edn b/test/chez/corpus.edn
index 92e5625..12401f4 100644
--- a/test/chez/corpus.edn
+++ b/test/chez/corpus.edn
@@ -548,6 +548,11 @@
   {:suite "host-interop / class tokens & readers" :label "(class x) matches the token" :expected "true" :actual "(= String (class \"abc\"))"}
   {:suite "host-interop / class tokens & readers" :label "defmulti on class dispatches" :expected ":str" :actual "(do (defmulti cm (fn [x] (class x))) (defmethod cm String [x] :str) (cm \"a\"))"}
   {:suite "host-interop / class tokens & readers" :label "defmethod on nil dispatch value" :expected ":nil" :actual "(do (defmulti cn (fn [x] (class x))) (defmethod cn nil [x] :nil) (defmethod cn String [x] :str) (cn nil))"}
+  {:suite "host-interop / class tokens & readers" :label "Class str is class-prefixed" :expected "\"class java.lang.String\"" :actual "(str (class \"\"))"}
+  {:suite "host-interop / class tokens & readers" :label "Class getName" :expected "\"java.lang.String\"" :actual "(.getName (class \"\"))"}
+  {:suite "host-interop / class tokens & readers" :label "Class getSimpleName" :expected "\"Long\"" :actual "(.getSimpleName (class 5))"}
+  {:suite "host-interop / class tokens & readers" :label "Class of equal-typed values is =" :expected "true" :actual "(= (class 5) (class 6))"}
+  {:suite "host-interop / class tokens & readers" :label "Class in a thrown message" :expected "\"of class java.lang.String\"" :actual "(try (throw (Exception. (str \"of \" (class \"\")))) (catch Exception e (.getMessage e)))"}
   {:suite "host-interop / class tokens & readers" :label "ctor sugar still constructs" :expected "\"x\"" :actual "(.toString (StringBuilder. \"x\"))"}
   {:suite "host-interop / class tokens & readers" :label "return-hinted defn parses" :expected "7" :actual "(do (defn- hb ^bytes [b] b) (hb 7))"}
   {:suite "host-interop / class tokens & readers" :label "hinted multi-arity parses" :expected ":two" :actual "((fn ([x] :one) (^String [x y] :two)) 1 2)"}