An Egyptian inscribed sandalwood box panel

An Egyptian inscribed sandalwood box panel
Ptolemaic Period, reign of Ptolemy III, circa 246-222 B.C.
Each end of the rectangular panel with four projecting dove-tails, with hieroglyphic inscription in black in two columns reading 'Beloved of the King of Upper and Lower Egypt, Ptolemy, may he live forever, beloved of Ptah' and 'beloved of Sokar-Osiris, the great god and of the brother sister gods ('Theoi Adelphoi')', the upper edge with two rectangular mortices, the lower edge with three rectangular mortices, one preserving a dowel, 16cm wide; 8cm high

Provenance:
London art market, early 1980s.
Brussels art market, 2001.
with Charles Ede Ltd, London, 2004 (Egyptian Antiquities, no. 67).
Anonymous sale; Christie's, New York, 7 December 2006, lot 34.
Private collection, USA, acquired from the above sale.

The epithet 'beloved of Theoi Adelphoi' was used by Ptolemy III.