10' x 12'4" Persian Bakhtiar Rug | Garden Panel Khesti Design | 1970s Excellent Condition

A 1970s Bakhtiar in the classic khesti garden layout, this 10' x 12'4" rug divides its field into 40 separate compartments, each one drawn with its own tree, vase or blossom. The wool is thick at a 3/8" pile and still stands full and even across the whole surface, with the crisp cotton warps and tight knotting visible on the reverse. It sits comfortably in the range of large hand-knotted Persian rugs that anchor a full seating group without crowding the walls. Every rug ships with a certificate of authenticity.

Design and Motifs

The garden plan runs 5 panels across and 8 down, separated by narrow leaf-and-vine dividers that read like the irrigation channels of a walled Persian garden. No two neighboring squares repeat: ivory panels carry paired weeping willows above a small red blossom, salmon crosshatch panels hold shield-shaped cartouches filled with a curling boteh, teal panels frame a footed vase spilling roses, and red panels are scattered with long serrated leaves and flowering sprays. The main border answers the field with squared tiles, each holding an 8 petal star rosette in ivory and blue, linked by hooked brackets and small crosses. Inside and out, a cream vine guard border with blue palmettes softens the transition and finishes the 4 corners neatly.

A Multi-Color Palette Built on Madder Red and Ivory

The dominant note is a deep madder red that fills the wide border and roughly a third of the garden squares, warm rather than orange and slightly varied from one section to the next where the dye lots shifted on the loom. Against it sit two very different blues: a dark indigo navy used for the boteh panels and a bright teal turquoise used for the vase compartments, the pairing that gives this rug its lively surface. Undyed ivory and soft cream carry the willow panels and the guard borders, while a pale salmon rose fills the fine lattice grounds. Small amounts of sage and bottle green in the leaves, soft camel in the outlines and touches of light blue in the border rosettes round out the multi-color reading.

Bakhtiar Weaving from the Chahar Mahal Villages

Rugs of this type come from the Chahar Mahal villages southwest of Isfahan, the settled weaving heartland of the Bakhtiari people, where towns such as Shalamzar, Saman and Chalshotor made the garden compartment layout their signature. The wool from that high plateau is heavy and springy, which is why Persian Bakhtiar rugs earned a reputation as workhorses that take decades of family traffic and keep their pile. Construction here is the traditional village formula: a strong cotton foundation, a symmetrical knot pulled tight, and a pile clipped at 3/8" so the drawing stays legible. The weave, the dye behavior and the wire-clean selvedges all point to the 1970s, a period covered in our guide on how to date an oriental rug.