Late Period, 664-332 BC. A rectangular carved wooden box with sliding lid held by two leather retaining straps; lid with D-shaped tab handle; exterior faces of the box and lid with incised multilinear saltires forming reserved lozenges. See Hayes, W.C., Scepter of Egypt II: A Background for the Study of the Egyptian Antiquities in the Metropolitan Museum of Art: The Hyksos Period and the New Kingdom (1675-1080 B.C.), Cambridge, Mass: The Metropolitan Museum of Art, 1959, p.347.35.47 grams, 97mm (3 3/4"). Property of a Dutch private collector; previously in the collection of Jan Beekmans (1927-2008"). Gaming was a popular pastime for all classes in Egypt, but it gained a symbolic or religious significance once boards and counters became part of the standard set of goods interred with the dead for the afterlife. The game of senet is shown in the tomb painting of Queen Nefertari (ca. 1279–1213 BC), the 'Great Royal Wife' or principal consort of Ramesses II, where the queen is seated at table with the game set up before her.