Provenance · Mamluk Design, Woven in Afghanistan

The Mamluk carpets of Cairo, woven between the late fifteenth and the sixteenth century, are among the most tightly constructed floor coverings ever made: a central figure ringed by stars, papyrus fronds and small kaleidoscopic medallions, repeated at shifting scales until the whole field reads as a single composition.

The drawing was taken up again by the workshops of western Afghanistan, where master weavers work with handspun, plant-dyed wool after the old cartoons. This piece comes from that tradition — the Cairene geometry, executed with Afghan wool and Afghan hands.

Design and Construction

At the centre sits a stepped octagonal medallion: a cream core filled with minute floral sprigs, framed by concentric bands of rust red and ice blue, and set into a broad saffron-gold eight-pointed star. It is the classic Mamluk centre, and here it is given the room to be read whole.

The field around it runs in a soft dusty rose that carries an all-over drawing of tiny rosettes, palmettes and stepped lozenges. Rust-red octagonal rosettes mark the four corners of the inner field, ice-blue lancet leaves and small navy accents thread through the pattern, and narrow cartouche panels close the composition at both ends. The main border repeats the rose ground with a dense floral vine, edged by cream and blue guard stripes.

The whole palette stays low and warm — rose, saffron, terracotta and cream, with blue used only as a cool counterpoint. A large rug that gives a room a settled base without overwhelming the furniture standing on it.

Material and Weave

The pile is 100 % wool, handspun in Afghanistan, knotted onto a cotton foundation. A cotton warp holds its length under tension, which is what keeps a carpet of over five metres straight and true over the years. Handspun yarn takes dye unevenly by nature, and that is what produces the gentle horizontal movement across the ground — an abrash that keeps a field of this size alive rather than flat.

Quality

Knotted at approximately 360,000 to 400,000 knots per square metre, or roughly 230 to 260 kpsi — a density well above what this design is usually given, which is why the smallest sprigs inside the medallion and the fine border vine stay legible instead of collapsing into blocks. The pile is kept low at 8 mm, so the geometry reads cleanly across the full 5.1 metres.

Presence in the Room

At 510 × 400 cm (20.4 m²) this is a palatial format, made for rooms with the floor area to carry it:

• Dining room: takes a table of up to 340 cm with room left for every chair to stay on the rug when pulled back.
• Salon or living hall: large enough to seat a full furniture group on the rug rather than around it.
• Library or banqueting room: the low pile and warm ground suit a room with height and hard architecture.

Specifications

Responsible Origin · Label STEP

Djoharian is a certified partner of Label STEP, the international fair-trade organisation for hand-knotted rugs — fair pay for the weavers, no child labour, and ecologically responsible production.

Djoharian — Since 1967

Our family business was founded in 1967, with roots in the Grand Carpet Bazaar of Tehran — five decades of trade and connoisseurship behind every piece we offer.

Service and Care

Every piece is inspected in our atelier in Lohr am Main before dispatch. For expert washing and repair we offer our own professional rug cleaning service. Secure and fast worldwide shipping, fully insured, with personal consultation in our showroom or by video call.