Bakhtiari Rugs

Bakhtiari rugs are the easiest Persian rugs to recognise, because most of them are not one picture but many. The signature Khesti design divides the field into a grid of panels, and fills each panel with something different: a weeping willow, a cypress, a vase of flowers, a bird, a stylised garden bed. The whole rug reads as a walled Persian garden seen from above.

The weavers are the Bakhtiari, a confederation of pastoral tribes in the Zagros mountains of Chahar Mahal, and the palette is tribal rather than courtly: madder red, deep indigo, saffron, ivory and a dark green that almost reads black. The colours are put next to each other without transition, which is exactly why the panels hold their shape across a large floor.

Construction is heavy. Thick wool on a cotton foundation, a fairly coarse knot, and a pile with enough body to take furniture without crushing. These are rugs made to be lived on in cold houses, and they are at their best in large sizes where the full grid can be seen.