Joshaghan Rugs: The Diamond Lattice of Central Persia
Joshaghan rugs, also written Josheghan, come from a district in central Persia between Arak and Isfahan. You can spot one by its design: a large stepped diamond that fills the field, a small diamond medallion at its heart, and rows of little flower clusters all around. Almost every one is red, from deep red to burgundy. Many of the ones we sell are about 4 by 7 feet, and all of them are about fifty years old.
Where Joshaghan rugs come from
Joshaghan is a village and a district, and the rugs take their name from it.[1] An American writer in 1913 placed the district to the southeast of Sultanabad, the old name for Arak, and to the north of Isfahan.[2] He also counted its carpets of a century earlier among the best in Persia.[2]
That puts Joshaghan between two very different weaving worlds. To the northwest is the Arak district, home of the Sarouk and the Mahal. To the south is Isfahan, with its city workshops. A Joshaghan belongs to neither. It is drawn in straight, stepped lines, more like a village rug than a city one. Our Sarouk guide and Najafabad guide cover the two neighbors, and tribal, village and city rugs explains what those labels mean.
The diamond lattice
The Joshaghan design has a long history. One old rug guide describes Joshaghan fields covered with a lattice of small floral forms.[2] Another describes crosses and eight-pointed stars arranged into a lattice, with many small roses.[1] The Victoria and Albert Museum holds a carpet from the 1870s, listed as possibly Joshaghan, with a foliate lattice on a red ground.[3]
On the rugs we sell, the lattice has grown into one big idea. A large stepped diamond fills most of the field. Inside it sit rows of tiny flower clusters, each drawn from a handful of knots. At the very center there is a small diamond medallion, often outlined in cream or gold. The corners outside the big diamond are usually navy or a darker red. On some, the big diamond is itself divided into smaller diamond compartments, which is the lattice in its plainest form.
How to recognize a Joshaghan
Three things together point to a Joshaghan. The first is the big stepped diamond with a small diamond at its center. The second is the scatter of tiny flowers in rows across the field. They are so small and even that from a few feet away the field looks finely speckled. The third is the drawing itself, built from straight lines and steps rather than curves, as you can see in reading a rug.
The border helps too. The old descriptions mention three border stripes, a wide one with a narrow one on each side.[1] On ours the main border repeats a small flower or plant motif along a dark ground, between narrow guard stripes.
Colors
Red is the Joshaghan color. The old guides say the ground is usually red, and that holds for ours.[1] Most have a burgundy or deep red field. A few are softer, in faded red, brick or terracotta, with denim, powder blue or cream in the drawing. Cream, navy and antique gold do most of the detail. The borders run from deep red and burgundy to navy, charcoal and dark brown.
A red Joshaghan suits a warm room with wood floors and brass. Because the pattern is small and even, it reads as a deep, textured red from across the room rather than as a busy picture. For other red rugs, browse the burgundy rugs, and for more rugs built on a repeated motif, see the patterned rugs.
Where a Joshaghan fits
A Joshaghan is easy to live with. The small repeat has no single spot that wears or stains in an obvious way, and the stepped diamond still reads clearly when a chair or the end of a bed covers part of it. That makes the 4 by 7 rugs a good fit for a bedroom, a home office or the space in front of a sofa in a small room.
If you are comparing it with other red geometric rugs, the Joshaghan is the finer and more ordered one. A Hamedan is usually looser and bolder, and a Heriz works at a much larger scale. Put them side by side and the Joshaghan looks almost like a woven tile pattern.
Sizes and prices
About half of our Joshaghans are around 4 by 7 feet. That is a useful size: big enough to sit across the foot of a bed or fill an entry, small enough for a study. Rug size for a full or twin bed shows one laid across a twin bed. A few are smaller, around 3 by 4 and 3 by 5. A few are room size, from about 7 by 10 to 7 by 12.
The 4 by 7 rugs cost from about $450 to $575, and the smaller ones from about $360. The room-size Joshaghans cost from about $1,950 to $2,100. A thin pad underneath cushions a rug against the floor and the weight of furniture.[4] On a hard floor it also keeps a rug this size from creeping, and rug pads 101 explains which kind to choose.
Where to go next
All of them are in the Joshaghan collection. For more central Persian rugs at room size, see the Najafabad collection. If you are still working out what size you need, the size guide walks through it room by room.
Sources
- The Practical Book of Oriental Rugs. George Griffin Lewis, 1913. Project Gutenberg.
- Oriental Rugs, Antique and Modern. Walter A. Hawley, 1913. Project Gutenberg.
- Carpet, possibly Joshaghan, 1870 to 1880. Victoria and Albert Museum.
- Basic care: Carpets and rugs. Canadian Conservation Institute.
