May be worth a cross post over at /r/whatisthisthing they're normally pretty good at identifying everything and anything.

If nothing else they may be able to focus down the search by identifying the flag (I thought Persia but can't find one with a single bottom bar and such a shaggy maned lion).

EDIT: Or try /r/vexillology

Do you have context? What is your father's nationality? Personal history?

At a guess I'd say that the top stripe just isn't visible in the photograph. The version of the Iranian flag designed by Amir Kabir in the mid 1800's had the narrow top and bottom stripe. The version of the flag with equal sized colour bars seems to have taken over by the early 1900's. I'd guess that the flag in the picture was an old one when the photo was taken.

I can tell you what type of photograph it is... This is called a carte de viste, and they were popular as both personal professional photography (you went into a studio and had your picture taken) but also as a collectible, like baseball cards. So if the image looks like family, it's probably family, but it could also be a commercial photograph someone in your family picked up for some reason.