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This picture was commissioned to celebrate the marriage of Pierfrancesco Borgherini to Margherita Accaiuoli in 1515. It formed part of a series that decorated their bedroom in the Borgherini palace in Florence. Several paintings by Pontormo and Bacchiacca from the series are now in the National Gallery’s collection. Joseph’s half-brothers sold him into slavery in Egypt. In this episode, the brothers arrive from Canaan (Palestine) to beg for help in the second year of famine (Genesis 42: 1–8). Not recognising their long-lost brother, the brothers prostrate themselves before Joseph, who is now Pharaoh’s overseer and sits in command on a classical triumphal chariot. On the right, grain is distributed from Pharaoh’s stores. The inscriptions on the chariot allude to Christ’s title of Salvator Mundi (‘Saviour of the World’).