In the second half of the 19th century, Tantah was a small settlement in Egypt, which slowly developed into a city after it became a major center for the cultivation and export of cotton. Melik, an Armenian entrepreneur who opened his photography studio here in the 1890s, was one of the few photographers working in that area. His customers were primarily businessmen, manufacturers and workers who were passing through the city on their way to Alexandria or Cairo. Melik’s studio was located in front of the Tantah police station and the photographer quite possibly served this administrative body as well. There known works produced by Melik mostly originate from the 1890s and 1900s, however, a number of recently discovered carte-postale portraits indicate that the studio was active at least until the early 1920s.  

Vigen Galstyan, 2018