A new client called and said she had an old family rug that had been trashed by another member of her family after years of use. She received the rug when her sister was moving and was going to throw it out. The caller had remembered stories her Mother told about the rug in question and decided to take the rug home and rescue it from the garbage.
The caller was very upset about its current condition and assumed that nothing could be done to restore the rug that was now in such a deplorable state!! The rug was a wedding gift for her grandmother who was purchasing a home. They were an affluent family and handmade Persian rugs were a status symbol. She agreed to let us pick up the rug so we could inspect it and give her a verbal appraisal and the cost to clean and restore the rug – if possible.
Once we picked up the rug and put it through our normal inspection process, right away we knew the rug was a special piece but it was in very poor condition. We told the client that she had a late 1800 century, 1890 – 1900 handmade Persian Bakhahaish (spelling can change depending on what source is used). The rug had a great design and really nice colors so we came up with a price to perform a complete restoration including cleaning, stain removal, reweaving of the holes, tears and rips, and filling in all the worn or missing pile. It took several months for the work to be completed and the results were fantastic.
We have appraised the rug to have a fair retail replacement value of $40,000.00 and the client was in absolute disbelief that the rug she sent us, saved from the garbage pile, was so perfectly and meticulously restore.
More Info about Bakshaish Rugs:
Bakshaish rugs, among the oversized rugs made in Persia, Bakshaish (Bakhshaish or Bakhshaysh) carpets are in a class by themselves. In essence, Bakshaish rugs adapt the style and feeling of the finest smaller village or tribal rugs to the scale of room-size pieces. The drawing of Bakshaish rugs and carpets is always bold, geometric, dynamic, and abstract. Bakshaish carpets may utilize medallion or all-over designs descended from classical antique Persian rugs, but they translate such models into a much more abstract and expressive idiom reminiscent of Caucasian village rugs like Kazaks.
Sometimes, like village pieces, they make use of scattered space-fillers; alternatively they may apply a principle of open space to allow the effects of the drawing to stand out graphically. Bakshaish carpets are also admired for their lustrous wool and rich, transparent color, again in the tradition of the best tribal pieces. Bakshaish rugs were produced in North Iran, not far from the Caucasus, which helps to account for the qualities they share with the rugs of that region.
The talented weavers in the village of Bakshaish produce an impressive array of rustic carpets that highlight the region's history and culture. By combining the larger sizes of city rugs with the rustic, tribal influences of village carpets, these regional rugs offer collectors the best of both worlds. Antique Bakshaish rugs are the oldest produced in the influential region responsible for Heriz rugs. Although the village of Bakshaish is not far from Tabriz, their designs and styles are worlds apart.
The striking Bakshaish rugs have ancient roots that contribute to their rustic, rectilinear style that is reminiscent of Caucasian pieces. Regional carpets, such as Bakshaish and Serapi rugs, pair tribal designs with sophisticated influences and sizes that were unheard of in smaller towns and semi-nomadic groups. The same holds true for Heriz Serapi rugs as well as for Serapi Heriz rugs. These vivid, graphically styled rugs prove that size and style are equally important in the realm of vintage rugs and antique carpets.
Country: Persia/Iran