Userhat hunting birds in the marshes

This picture, like the one of harpoon fishing, is normally opposite each other, separated by a mountain of water, which is frequently teeming with a wide variety of fish. The water, on the other hand, is all horizontal here, and the two sceneries are linear and follow each other, divided by a papyrus bush. The marsh pattern runs through both landscapes as a blue coloured strip (without the customary undulating lines) symbolising the Nile, flowing from one to the other. On a light boat built of papyrus stalks, Userhat advances on the surface of the marsh with his wife and daughter.

In the centre of the boat, a red-brown carpet is depicted as covering the deck. Userhat, whose clothes isn’t finished, stands with his legs apart, assuming a royal position, similar to the one seen on temple pylons, in which the sovereign faces the enemy. His right hand is holding a throwing stick behind his head, ready to launch into the papyrus foliage. He holds three live ducks by their legs in his left hand, possibly as decoys. Mutneferet and one of his daughters are the two women that are shown on a lower scale; they both wear long white, tight-fitting dresses and are decked with jewellery (diadems, bracelets and necklaces). Both have lotus flowers in their hands, Two additional ducks are clutched by their wings by their mother.

The only thing that adds to the academic rigidity of the image is the erect thicket of papyrus. On the left, at the top, is a theme popular throughout the Old Kingdom: a nest with two fledglings being endangered by a predator whose weight has bent the papyrus stem on which it climbs. Three ducks fly above the thicket, while a fourth duck sinks head downwards after being hit by a throwing stick.