diff --git a/python/src/array.cpp b/python/src/array.cpp
index 8bca3ba3e..c491b44e0 100644
--- a/python/src/array.cpp
+++ b/python/src/array.cpp
@@ -776,13 +776,25 @@ void init_array(py::module_& m) {
       .def("__iter__", [](const array& a) { return ArrayPythonIterator(a); })
       .def(py::pickle(
           [](array& a) { // __getstate__
-            return py::array(buffer_info(a));
-          },
-          [](py::array npa) { // __setstate__
-            if (not py::isinstance<py::array>(npa)) {
-              throw std::runtime_error("Invalid state!");
+            auto dtype = a.dtype();
+            if (dtype == bfloat16) {
+              array b = astype(a, float32);
+              return py::make_tuple(
+                  dtype_to_array_protocol(dtype), py::array(buffer_info(b)));
+            } else {
+              return py::make_tuple(
+                  dtype_to_array_protocol(dtype), py::array(buffer_info(a)));
             }
-            return np_array_to_mlx(npa, std::nullopt);
+
+          },
+          [](py::tuple t) { // __setstate__
+            if (t.size() != 2 or not py::isinstance<py::array>(t[1]) or
+                not py::isinstance<py::str>(t[0])) {
+              throw std::runtime_error("Invalid state passed to __setstate__!");
+            }
+            return np_array_to_mlx(
+                t[1].cast<py::array>(),
+                dtype_from_array_protocol(t[0].cast<std::string>()));
           }))
       .def("__copy__", [](const array& self) { return array(self); })
       .def(
diff --git a/python/tests/test_array.py b/python/tests/test_array.py
index 4409baa51..52bc6cf12 100644
--- a/python/tests/test_array.py
+++ b/python/tests/test_array.py
@@ -671,7 +671,7 @@ class TestArray(mlx_tests.MLXTestCase):
             mx.uint64,
             mx.float16,
             mx.float32,
-            # mx.bfloat16,
+            mx.bfloat16,
             mx.complex64,
         ]