Torkaman Rugs: One Motif, Repeated Perfectly

By Storied Rugs7 min read

A small red Torkaman rug on a gray painted bathroom floor between a pedestal sink and a clawfoot tub, seen through the doorway.

A Turkmen rug is a hand-knotted rug woven by the Turkmen tribes, who lived across northeast Persia, Afghanistan and Central Asia.^[1] Torkaman is the Persian trade name for the ones woven on the Persian side, near the border with Turkmenistan, and older books spell it Turkoman. You know one by its pattern: a single eight-sided motif, the gul, repeated in rows across a red field.^[2] Most Torkaman rugs are small mats, around 2 by 3 feet, and they are among the least expensive hand-knotted rugs you can buy. If you have a small budget and a small space, this is the shortest route to a real one.

Small deep red Torkaman mat with three guls on an olive panel, on an oak floor beside a linen bed and walnut nightstand — A Torkaman mat, 2 feet by 2 feet 7 inches, beside a bed. Three guls stack up an olive panel, framed in deep red and burnt orange, and the mat is just big enough for both feet in the morning.

The gul

Most Torkaman rugs are built from one shape repeated in rows. That shape is the gul, an eight-sided medallion, and each Turkmen tribe had its own version.^[3] The field is a grid of guls, the border frames the grid, and that is the rug. Our guide to reading a rug shows the gul next to other common motifs.

It sounds monotonous written down. In the wool it is the opposite. Because the shape stays the same, small things carry the interest. The rows drift a little, the color often shifts halfway up, and each weaver solved the corners in her own way. A good Torkaman rewards a slow look, the way a plain textile does.

In the West these rugs are often sold as Bokhara, after the Central Asian city where Turkmen rugs were traded.^[4] The name points to a family of designs more than to the place a rug was woven. If a listing says Bokhara and shows rows of guls, you are looking at the same family. Turkmen weavers in Afghanistan made rugs of the same family, which our post on Persian vs Afghan rugs compares.

Close overhead view of a bright red Torkaman rug with two columns of quartered guls, small cross motifs and a dense border on dark oak — A Torkaman, 3 feet 1 inch by 4 feet 3 inches, up close. The same eight-sided gul repeats in rows across the red field, with small cross motifs between them.

Turkmen rug patterns and the tribes behind them

Turkmen rug patterns work like a signature. The Tekke, Yomut, Salor and Ersari each wove their own version of the gul, and with a little practice you can tell them apart.^[4] That is why a listing may name the tribe instead of saying Turkmen or Torkaman. Most of the Turkmen living on the Afghan side of the border were Ersari.^[4] Their carpets were thicker and less expensive than the work of the other groups.^[4]

Floor rugs were only part of the work. Turkmen women wove carpets for the tent floor and doorway, and smaller pieces made up into storage bags, tent decoration and animal trappings.^[5] The largest piece, the main carpet, could be the prized possession of a family’s round tent.^[1]

Turkmen rugs a century old or more are what dealers call antique, and the finest of them now sit in museums. The Torkaman rugs we sell are vintage, mostly woven between the 1940s and the 1980s, and they were woven to be walked on. Antique vs vintage rugs explains where that line falls.

Red first, then cream and navy

More than half of all Torkaman rugs have a deep red or burgundy field. The traditional ground was madder red, dyed deep on purpose, and a tribe showed who it was through its gul rather than its colors.^[5] Cream, gold, rust and dark brown do the outlining. A smaller group has a cream or navy field, which reads lighter in a room.

If you want a truly pale rug, this is the wrong origin; try Isparta instead.

Beige and ochre Torkaman rug with a stepped medallion on a dark oak floor inside a green front door, beside an oak bench — A lighter Torkaman in beige and ochre, 2 feet 2 inches by 3 feet 1 inch, just inside the front door. It has one stepped medallion instead of rows of guls, so not every rug sold under the name follows the grid.

How to recognize one

The repeat. Rows of identical octagons, edge to edge, are close to conclusive.
The scale. Torkaman weaving is fine, so the guls are small and there are many of them even on a modest rug.
The pile. Low and even. Nearly every Torkaman is low pile.
The back. Turn a corner over and the knots are small, neat and easy to count.

Torkaman or Baluch?

These two are easy to mix up. Both are tribal rugs from eastern Persia, both are small, and both lean red. Baluch weavers even borrowed the gul now and then.^[6] The difference is in the color. A Baluch is darker, a red pushed toward brown and black. A Torkaman is a clearer, brighter red, and its drawing is tighter. If the rug looks almost black in low light, read our Baluch guide first.

Both are tribal weaving, done on looms that had to fit a life on the move. Tribal, village and city rugs explains why that kept most of them small.

Sizes, and what to do with a small rug

The typical Torkaman is a 2 by 3, the size the Persian trade calls a poshti. Our list of standard Persian rug sizes covers the other names. A few are runners, and a handful are room-size carpets.

Two Torkaman mats, one on each side of a bed, work better than one rug that is slightly too small for the bed. That is the mistake most people make, and our queen bed sizing guide covers why. A mat also does well at a door, on a landing, in front of a sink or layered over a larger plain rug. Where to put a small rug has more ideas.

Long deep red Torkaman runner with one column of guls down a paneled hallway with oak floors, a rush chair and fig tree — A Torkaman runner, 3 feet 1 inch by 13 feet. One column of guls runs the whole length, which suits a long hall.

What a Torkaman costs

The small mats are the cheapest way into hand-knotted wool. Most of them cost between about $200 and $450. Runners cost more, and the rare room-size carpets reach about $2,500, which is still modest for a hand-knotted rug that size.

A small mat is also a good way to see whether you like living with an old rug before you spend more on a big one.

Room-size burgundy Torkaman rug with rows of small guls under a linen sofa and two leather armchairs in a stone farmhouse — A rare room-size Torkaman, 9 feet 5 inches by 11 feet 11 inches, under a whole seating group. The same small gul repeats row after row across the burgundy field.

Caring for a small rug

Small mats slide more than big rugs because they have less weight to hold them down. On wood or tile, put a thin grippy pad underneath, cut a little smaller than the rug. Rug Pads 101 covers the options.

The low pile is easy to vacuum. Use suction only, or raise the beater bar, and keep the head off the fringe. A mat by a door or a sink collects grit fast, so shake it out now and then. Our rug care page covers spills and washing.

Browse the Torkaman collection, or if price is the main limit, everything under $500.

From the collection