Userhat in front of Pharaoh Amenhotep II (2)

As certain as it is that Pharaoh is alive, it is important to recognise that it is a deceased Userhat who approaches towards him after having been his childhood friend, who became his feudal master, and in whom he has unquestionably exceptional faith. Indeed, the words “maa kheru” (“justified”) at the top, on the left, after his name, are reserved for the deceased: “Bringing many beautiful flowers for His Majesty, by the frequent visitor of his Lord, the beloved good God, the one to whom one returns all the news because of his readiness for the king, who leaves the Palace (life, health, strength) as beloved, Userhat, the accountant of Upper and Lower Egypt’s breads and a student at the royal school, was justified.

Userhat is dressed in a kilt tied about the navel and a delicate transparent tunic, with a thick wig on his head that is oddly crimson. It’s unclear whether to cast doubt on or accept the theory that his hair was this colour naturally. The wig was supposed to be dyed black, according to Thierry, but it was left in its rough draught shape. Userhat doesn’t wear any jewellery, most likely out of a sense of modesty. He holds out a mandrake-topped structure with two clusters of grapes in front of him. Two sets of lotus flowers and a long twining stem of grapevine full of clusters hang from the table. On either side are two floral compositions consisting of three papyrus stems with open umbels and linked corollas of flowers.