Bakhtiyari prayer rug from central Persia, inscribed and dated AH 1316 / 1898 CE

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Description

This important prayer rug was made for a prominent Bakhtiyari Khan, Ghulam Husain Shahab al-Saltaneh Sardar Muhtashem, later to become supreme chief, Ilkhan, of the Bakhtiyari, a minister in the Iranian government and governor of  Kirman province.  Ghulam Husain featured in Schoedsack and Cooper’s famous 1924 silent film “Grass”, which documented the seasonal migrations of the Bakhtiari tribes from winter to summer pastures. The piece, very finely woven for a Bakhtiari rug, displays a particularly exuberant tree of life in the field and a vibrant palette of natural dyes, at least ten colours. 'Khan' carpets, whilst well known, are rare items and all bear inscriptions to individually named khans from the Dureki tribe of the Haft Lang Bakhtiyari. As Ian Bennett says in his study of this important group of carpets (Hali 43&44) they “represent an extremely interesting, perhaps unique, social and artistic record” and the inscriptions “add an historical depth and richness” to one of the most turbulent periods of Iran's history, the rise and fall of the Great Khans of the Bakhtiyari.
Size: 210 x 147 cm
Provenance:
The inscription reads “On the order of His Excellency, the Exalted, the most Glorious, the most Generous, Master Ghulam Khan Shahab al-Saltaneh. Work of the Bakhtiyari in the year 1316.”

Price: $27,500.00

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