Pakistani Bokhara Rugs (Bokara or Bukhara)

Bokharas are a type of handmade Pakistani rug; also known as Bukharas or Bokaras, they predate the rug renaissance.

A typical Pakistani Bhokara, although red is a more common color.

Though Pakistani Bokharas are scorned by collectors, they have turned out to be honest rugs. Most are based on Turkmen prototypes called Tekkes, with repeating octagonal figures called guls, usually on fields of burgundy red, gray blue, or sometimes green.

One line of these rugs is thick and of average weave, and they are known as 9/16 doubles, meaning that they have 144 knots per square inch. They are quite inexpensive, and luxurious feeling because of their thick, soft wool imported from either Australia or New Zealand.

A Pakistani Bokhara, though not the most common kind. This piece, characterized by the two-panel field and what appear to be (but are not) prayer niches at one end of the rug, is known as a Hachlu.

The standard Bokhara, known in the trade as 10/20, is woven with a nominal 200 knots per square inch. A less often seen grade is known as 11/22 and has 242 knots per inch. This grade costs more, but I recommend paying the difference and buying it.

A variant of the Tekke gul Bokharas is the Hachlu, usually available only in a 10/20 weave. These rugs are based on a Turkmen rug known as an ‘engsi’, and are recognizable by what appears to be (but is not) a series of prayer niches along one end and a field that is divided into quarters.