A fragmentary embroidered shawl or coverlet (phulkari), 
Punjab, first half 20th century, 
now a...

A fragmentary embroidered shawl or coverlet (phulkari), 
Punjab, first half 20th century, 

now a bed cover or table cover, silk floss on cotton maroon ground, checkered (shatranj), each check filled with large dandelion sprays, each spandrels with inward facing similar sprays, the borders with a swaying floral garland, previously mounted with modern skirtings now removed

148.5cm. square

Provenance: Private UK Collection acquired in the 1950s by the vendor's father, an academic. The works were brought to the UK when the family relocated here in 1966. 

Note :

Phulkaris were ceremoniously exchanged between various members of the family during marriage festivities. These included the passing down of phulkaris from mother to daughter, or grandmother to granddaughter, or in the form of the highly particularised vari da bagh, a type of embroidery that was gifted by the groom's family as part of marriage arrangement. 

Soft, untwisted silk floss thread called as “pat” came from various places like Kashmir, Bengal and even from Afghanistan, and Turkistan, but were dyed locally in Amritsar and Jammu, and women could obtain this from nomadic merchants. Partition in 1947 changed the availability of these silk flosses.

Further reading: 

Aryan, S. & B.N. Ayran, Unknown Masterpieces of Indian Folk and Tribal Art, KC Aryan’s Home of Folk Art, 2nd & enlarged ed., 2016.

Mason, D. (ed.), Phulkari: The Embroidered Textiles of Punjab from the Jill and Sheldon Bonovitz Collection, Philadelphia Museum of Art/Yale University Press, 2017.