Early 20th century, 198 x 170 cm, Western Central Persia

This Bakhtiari Khan rug was purchased by Senta Wollheim from Ulrich Schürmann in Cologne during the Sixties. In the midnight blue field, a garden design of cypress trees, weeping willows, poplars and small flowering trees is represented in a composition of three rows. Harking back to Khorasan models, it belonged to the Bakhtiari standard repertoire and was often used in large-format carpets as well. In Iran the design is known as "Bid Majnun" (weeping willow). In the white-ground main border, cartouches alternate regularly with flowering stems.

Bakhtiari rugs featuring a red-ground additional stripe with a knotted white inscription extending across the entire width of the field at the upper end were always commissioned by Bakhtiari khans (tribal leaders). In this item, the Persian inscription reads: "Farmayesh-e hazrat-e ashraf Aghaye Sardar Ashja' Soltan Mohammad Khan Bakhtiari", which translates as: "Commissioned by His Highness Sardar Ashja Soltan Mohammad Khan Bakhtiari”. The title "sardar" (general) was claimed by the leading Bakhtiari khans as of 1907. As regards the client who ordered our carpet, we know that he was born ca. 1870 and was one of the most well-respected Bakhtiari khans in the period between 1905 and 1920. On two occasions (1910 - 1911 and 1915) he served as the governor of Esfahan. – New overcasting along the sides, slight signs of age, the edges are backed with a wide textile tape on the reverse.