Hi Nassif,
Kindly note, the prenomen "men-kheperre" is not in a cartouche or at least not in a
complete one, if you do not consider the two sides of the
inscription as exergues or bases for the papyrus plants. The
scarab is definitely ancient but the workmanship would suggest a date to the
Saite Period (25th Dynasty) or the Late Period (26th Dynasty) when it became popular to emulate the "antique" designs of earlier periods. The triple papyrus design on both ends of your
scarab, first appears on
scarabs during the 18th Dynasty. For a detailed explanation of this design motif, see Kantor, cited below. For a parallel
inscription on a
scarab see
Jaeger, cited below, who describes this
inscription as "ou peut-etre avec sens actifs 'qui a forme Thebes.'"
1. Kantor, Helene.
Plant Ornament, Its origin and Development in the Ancient Near East. A Dissertation submitted to the faculty of the division of the humanities in candidacy for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy - Department of Oriental Languages and Liturature. Oriental Institute, University of Chicago, 1945. Re-issue of 1999. Pages 33, 286 to 288, Figure
VII, 10.
2.
Jaeger, Bertrand. Essai de Classification et Datation
des Scarabees Menkheperre,
Orbis Biblicus et Orientalis, Fribourg/Gottingen, 1982. Page 287, No. 118.
I
hope this helps.
Russ