Bakhtiari rug

This intriguing Bakhtiari carpet blends formal Persian and European styles with a distinctly village flavor. A traditional Persian palmette and vine-scroll border has been rendered in the manner of nineteenth-century European needle-point while the field draws a sumptuous rendition of a central row of Persian quatrefoil medallions flanked by frond-shaped clusters of foliage and networks of blossoming tendrils—all within a distinctly Persian take on neoclassical style. The richness of the color palette is magnified against an ivory ground. Of particular interest are the two guard borders which alternate between two distinct small-scale rustic lattice patterns.