Aivazovsky was a major landowner who owned numerous estates in the eastern part of Crimea, mostly located not far from Feodosia. These estates delivered him significant income; more than the sale of his paintings. His earliest major estate, bestowed by the Emperor in 1848 along with a personal noble title, was the one at Shakh-Mamai (now called Ayvazovskoye). Located some from Feodosia, it initially covered an area of 2,500 diasiatins (around ). The estate had an Eastern-style house, and one of its most prominent visitors, Anton Chekhov, wrote that "It is an extravagant, fairy-tale estate of the kind you must probably find in Persia." By the end of his life, the state had grown to include some 6,000 diasiatins of land, a dairy farm, and a steam-powered mill.