Portrait of a Man and His Dog

About the Artwork

Born in Constantinople to a Syrian father and Armenian mother, Sébah opened a photography studio there in either the late 1850s or ’60s. This carte de visite, a small, inexpensive photographic format developed in France and meant to be left as a calling card or collected, attests to the rapid and potent global spread of photographic technology, formats, and conventions in the mid-1800s.

Inscriptions

Imprinted in red ink on recto: P. SEBAH, PHOT.; Imprinted in red ink on verso: “decorative images/PARIS 1978/PASCAL SEBAH/PARIS 1870/VIENNE 1873/PHILADELPHIA 1877/CONSTPLE/RUE DE PERA 439/a cote de l’Ambassade Russe/LE CAIRE/sur/LESBEKIEH”

Exhibition history

BIG: Photographs from the Collection. The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH (organizer) (June 12-October 9, 2016).

Quick Overview

Artist: Pascal Sébah (Turkish, 1823–1886)
Date: c. 1880
Medium: carte-de-visite, albumen print
Dimensions: Image: 9.4 x 5.8 cm (3 11/16 x 2 5/16 in.); Paper: 10.2 x 6.3 cm (4 x 2 1/2 in.)
Type: Photograph
Classification: Photograph
Department: Photography
Credit line: Collection of Herbert Ascherman Jr.
Accession no.: 2017.28

More by Pascal Sébah in museum collections

Palais de Gézyret, Pavillon Exterieur
Pascal Sébah
1870s · Photograph
Public collection via the Metropolitan Museum of ArtAT-00024626

Data retrieved from the Cleveland Museum of Art on October 8, 2026. The museum may have updated its record since.