19th C. IndianPunjabi Cotton / Silk Phulkari, ex-Museum

Central Asia, Eastern Pakistan and Northern India, Punjab Region, ca. late 19th to early 20th century CE. A beautiful phulkari embroidered textile panel, in colorful silk threads on a white cotton ground. The panel is comprised of 2 large cotton pieces with a red cotton border hem with hand drawn ink outlines of the floral and zoomorphic pattern showing in some areas. The silk floss threads that cover the outlines are primarily sewn using darning stitches - the sheen of the silk is striking. In this example the orange, green, fuchsia, and purple floss create a rectangular floral frame and the interior contains daily life with women churning butter and men on elephants. Additional figures, birds, lions, horses, medallions, and flowering plants are also portrayed. Punjabi woman embroidered phulkari (translating to "flower work") as domestic items to wear as skirts, scarfs, and shawls. When a daughter was born, the women in the family would immediately begin embroidering a phulkari to mark the birth and use as a future dowry pieces. Size: 81" L x 50" W (205.7 cm x 127 cm)

For more information on phulkari embroidery, please see the Philadelphia Museum of Art website, exhibition article: "Phulkari: The Embroidered Textiles of Punjab from the Jill and Sheldon Bonovitz Collection," March 12, 2017 to July 9, 2017.

Provenance: ex-Ashland University Museum, Ashland, Ohio, USA, donated to Ashland University between July 1994 to December 1998

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#168578
Condition Report: Fair condition. Piece is unfinished, with hand drawn motifs in areas with no embroidery stiches on top. Tears and perforations though cotton panel and through threads. Losses, fraying, unraveling, and discoloration to embroidery with larger areas of loss - especially along border where there are remains of threads and knots. Staining and discoloration throughout the cotton panel. The remaining motif is colorful and interesting to look at.