Giovanni Anastasi (merchant)

Giovanni Anastasi (1765–1860) was born to an Armenian family from Damascus. He established himself as a wealthy merchant and antiquarian. Anastasi served as a Swedish-Norwegian Consul General from 1828 until his death. He sold large collections of antiquities -- to the Dutch government in 1828, now in the Dutch National Museum of Antiquities in Leiden, including the Ipuwer Papyrus; another collection -- to the British Museum in 1839, and another to the French in 1857. In 1839, the British Museum acquired from Anastasi's collection ostracon of Sinuhe.