According to Bahattin Öztuncay, Antoine Zilpochyan was one of the first assistants of the Abdullah Frères. Learning his craft at this famous studio, Zilpochyan set up his own business in the mid 1860s, together with Mateos P. Papazian. The ‘Zilpochyan and Papazian’ partnership ended only a few years later and Antoine opened an independent studio which specialized only in conventional, commercial portraiture. In the early 1870s, Zilpochyan moved to Smyrna where one of the five Abdullah brothers, Cosmi, run a branch of their Istanbul studio. The two photographers joined forces on a new venture, which successfully operated until the early 1890s. After Zilpochyan’s death, the business was taken over by his son Jean, who continued to run it until the turn of the 20th century.