KASHAN, a small province and town of Persia, the former being situated between the provinces of Qum on the north and Isfahan on the south, on the Iranian plateau. The revenue in 1926-7 amounted to 1,110,799 krans (about L24,684). The ad ministrative centre is Kashan, in 34° N. and 51° 27' E., 15o m.
from Tehran, at an elevation of 3,190 ft. Pop. (variously esti mated) at 30-40,000. The town lies on a caravan route some what eastward of the Isfahan-Qum-Tehran road, passable by motors. The summer heat is excessive—a mean maximum in July of oo° is recorded for the period 1881-4—and water, which is scarce, is brought by an aqueduct from a spring at the castle of Fin, 4 m. W. of the town.
The melons and figs of Kashan are greatly esteemed, but big black scorpions of a peculiarly dangerous type are common. Manufactures are copper utensils, embroidered silks, plain stuffs and a kind of velours. The trade in velvets and brocades, at the
end of the i9th century, had been almost killed by the competition of European machine-made stuffs, but the textile skill of the natives was turned to the weaving of woollen and silk carpets. These have become famous as some of the finest Persia can pro duce, and the prosperity of the town has risen. Kashan was especially famous for the making of plaques of faience called Kashi, used in the exterior decoration of buildings. The industry was brought from Damascus, but the art disappeared about a century ago; an attempt has recently been made to revive it, but the modern work is inferior to the beauty of the ancient pieces. Kashan also exports rose-water made in the villages around; and cobalt is obtained from the mine at Kamsar, 19 m. south.