Oil painting, portrait of Hairabed Melikian (1809-1874), the first known member of the famous Melikian family. The presence of the Melikians in Cyprus dates back to the early period of Ottoman rule, when members of the family came from Anatolia and settled in the island. The name “Melikian” is closely connected with important aspects of the history of the Armenians in Cyprus and one of the descendants of the family lives in Nicosia, Aleen Melikian-Andreou, who is in possession of the painting. The local family history begins with Hairabed Melikian, who was born in Nicosia in 1809, and married Hripsime Eramian, the daughter of Artin Boghos Eramian (see next portrait), and Caterina Luigi Carletti, whose mother was daughter of Napoleon’s doctor.
In his portrait, Hairabed appears as a rather young man, presumably in his 40s, with fine facial characteristics, blue/green eyes facing the spectator, an impressive curved nose and a thin moustache. He is presented seated on a divan with bright red cover and cushions, close to a table, with his left hand on it, while his right, bent arm is resting on a cushion. He is wearing a rather low, red fez (fessin), with its top covered with a black tassel, the braided threads of which are falling around the front of the fez, while a second thick tassel is hanging on the right side. A thin, white line around the base of the fez probably indicates a white cloth skullcap (terlik), which was worn under the fez to absorb sweat.
The fez, which was imposed by the reforms of Sultan Mahmud II (1808-1839) on all nations of the Empire, is here combined with the official Ottoman dress, worn by important dignitaries, like dragomans, and the upper classes of the social hierarchy. Over a white undershirt, which is visible around the neckline, Hairabed is wearing an anterin (Turk. entari), made of a luxurious fabric with turquoise, blue, red, black, yellow and white stripes decorated with tiny black floral patterns. Around the neck the anterin finishes with a broad collar of the same fabric. Its long, narrow sleeves are shown around the wrist.
On the chest, the oblique direction of the fabric’s stripes indicates that the right side of the anterin was crossed over the left. Across the chest appears a golden watch chain. As a belt around the waist he wears a broad sash (Turk. kuşak), made of a bright yellow cloth with chequered turquoise patterns. The shawl is partly visible at the front opening of the djouppe (Turk. cüppe), a long gown made of a thick fabric in a dark blue colour. Hairabed is wearing two overcoats, both of them in dark blue colour and lined with different kind of fur. The brown furs are clearly visible around the neck and at the front opening of the djouppe. Such long robes, usually lined with valuable furs, were an inseparable part of the Ottoman dress and indicative of profitable mercantile activities, wealth and social status.
In the small finger of his right hand, Hairabed is wearing a golden, most probably diamond ring. In this hand he is holding an open leather-bound book, while another book, also bound in leather and with a bookmark in its pages, is placed on the table in front of him. The presence of books indicates that Hairabed was an educated, erudite person. This perception is further enhanced by the presence of writing equipment on the same table, which apparently was used as a writing desk; there are two small similar vases, one of them a quill holder, as indicated by two protruding feathers of quill pens, and the other a pounce pot or sander, which was due to contain fine sand or powdered mineral or powdered cuttlefish bone; the perforated top of the vase allowed the fine powder to be sprinkled over freshly scripted text, to dry ink; the body of the vases is decorated with a thin horizontal green branch with tiny yellow floral patterns; next to the vases on the table, there is also a shallow bowl with round pastilles in black, red and golden colour, probably used for writing. Taken all together, these accessories further symbolise the owner’s intellect. The wooden, reddish brown table has a long drawer on the front side with a lock in the centre and two knobs, one on either side, to open it; each knob is decorated with a rosette in relief. All three accessories have a bright yellow/gold colour, indicating that they are made of metal.
In front of Hairabed’s left hand, which rests on the table, there is a small white label with his name written on it with calligraphic letters: Signor/ Sig. Hariabet (sic) Melik/ Nicosia. The background of the painting is covered with a light ochre/yellow colour. The date and the name of the painter of the portrait are not indicated, but a comparison with the portrait of Artin Boghos Eramian, which bears the signature (“C. Tachiatzy”) of the painter C. Takkatzis and shows similar features, indicates that it was painted by the same artist, presumably also about the middle of the 19th century.
