Portrait of Serop Alishan, Antique Dealer and collector

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Portrait of the Armenian antique dealer and collector, Serop Alishan, the twin brother of Father Ghevond Alishan (1820-1901), a famous poet and priest for the Mechitarist Congregation of the Armenian Catholic Church based on the small island of "San Lazzaro degli Armeni" in the Venetian lagoon (Armenian Catholic Monastery). Serop, sitting next to a table covered by a decorated cloth, holds a metal lion's head (a symbol of strength and courage) and in his other hand a Greek "tears-holder", a object that the ancient Greeks used to collect the tears of a grieving person. A large wooden box for a Chinese “Go” set inlaid with mother stands on the table and on top of this there is a Persian style fez hat and collection of coins. In front of the box there seem to be some Egyptian ushabti funerary figurines and a finely moulded terracotta head, probably a fragment of a Greek Tanagra figure. According to Malcom, M. Vartan The Armenians in America. 1919. Reprint. London:Forgotten Books, 2013, pp. 58-59 "In 1845 Serop Alishan, brother of Father Alishan, the distinguished Armenian/ poet, reached America."