Ptolemy IV Philopator, 221-205. Tetradrachm, Alexandria 221-203, AR 13.97 g. Joined draped busts r. of Serapis, wreathed, and Isis, diademed. Rev. ΠΤΟΛΕΜΑΙΟΥ – ΒΑΣΙΛΕΩΣ Eagle standing l. on thunderbolt; behind, double cornu­copiae and below the legs, ΔI. Svoronos 1124. SNG Copenhagen 197-198. Landvatter 21. Two superb portraits of fine style and with a superb old cabinet tone. About extremely fine / extremely fine Ex Stack's Bowers & Ponterio sale 164, 2012, 331. From the E.E. Clain-Stefanelli collection. This distinctive issue breaks from the usual pattern of Ptolemaic tetradrachms, which habitually depict the dynastic founder, Ptolemy I, or, on very rare occasions, the reigning monarch. Instead, it portrays the draped busts of Serapis and Isis, which perhaps was meant to symbolize the special devotion that Ptolemy IV and his sister-wife Arsinoe III professed to these dynastic gods. That break in precedent indicates that an important, commemorative function was performed by this issue. Lorber suggests it was struck during the Fourth Syrian War (219-216 B.C.) in celebration of Ptolemy IV's defeat of the armies of Antiochus III at Raphia on 22 June, 217 B.C., because Serapis and Isis were said to have played a role in the triumph of the Ptolemaic army. Even beyond these coins, however, there is ample evidence of royal patronage for Serapis and Isis during the reign of Ptolemy IV, including foundation coins for a shrine to Harpocrates in the Alexandrian Serapeum, which Ptolemy IV ostensibly constructed at the command of Serapis and Isis.