6'3" x 9'3" Pakistani Bakhshayesh Design Rug | Wool | Beige and Sage

A hand-knotted rug of 6'3" x 9'3", made in Pakistan with a natural wool pile. The drawing follows an antique Bakhshayesh model: a large stepped medallion in sage grey and camel, set on an open ivory field and framed by three borders. Seen from a distance the whole rug reads as one soft beige surface, and the pattern only separates into its parts as you get closer.

Design

The medallion runs almost the full length of the field in stepped tiers, sage grey on the outside, camel in the middle, with a small ivory cartouche at the centre carrying a pair of joined rosettes. Rows of little hexagons and paired leaf forms fill the coloured ground, and hooked palmette finials reach out towards the ends of the field. The main border is a camel band of linked scrolling hooks outlined in ivory with grey shadows, flanked by a wider beige band of looser vine scrolls and diamonds, and a narrow outer guard of alternating cross motifs. On this rectangular format the border system takes up a good third of the surface, which is part of why the field looks as uncluttered as it does.

Colour

The field is an undyed ivory to light beige, slightly uneven in the way hand-spun wool takes dye, which gives the open ground some movement. Against it the medallion carries a muted sage green with a grey cast, and the inner medallion and borders are worked in a warm camel brown that reads closer to gold where the light catches the pile. Small accents of pale grey and chalky cream break up the larger blocks. Nothing in the palette is saturated: the contrast comes from tone rather than hue, and the three colours sit quietly against one another.

Making

The rug is hand-knotted in Pakistan in the Chobi manner, one of the Chobi rugs made there in soft natural tones rather than strong reds and blues, and the design is drawn from old Bakhshayesh weaving in northwest Persia rather than from any Pakistani tradition. The pile is natural wool, clipped low enough that the outlines stand slightly proud of the ground, an effect visible along the border scrolls and around the medallion steps. The back shows an even, legible knot, the sides are finished flat and the ends run out into plain ivory fringe. Condition is listed as perfect.