Avery painted only a handful of portraits, of which this one might be considered his finest. He depicts the famous antiquities dealer Dikran Kelekian (1868–1951) at the end of his career in his gallery at 20 East Fifty-seventh Street. As the consequence of a cataract operation, the seventy-five-year-old Kelekian wears thick glasses that hide his eyes. He sports his customary Borsolino hat and white wing collar and is seated among objects of his profession: a rust-colored Coptic textile behind him and a small ancient Near Eastern green copper bird on a pedestal before him.

Together with his son, Charles (1900–1982), Kelekian operated galleries in Paris, Cairo, and New York. He first acquainted Americans with Persian art on a large scale when he brought an exhibition to the World's Columbian Exposition in Chicago in 1893. Kelekian knew and supported many artists. His long friendship with Mary Cassatt led him to the Havemeyers, who acquired many different objects from Kelekian that later entered the Museum's collection. He also formed numerous collections for himself, among them one of French Impressionist paintings.

After the death of Kelekian in 1951, Charles continued the gallery in New York at 667 Madison Avenue with the sitter's granddaughter, Nanette Rodney Kelekian.