Gold and White Phulkari

This phulkari with orange and white diamonds and stripes was made in Punjab, either in India or Pakistan in the 20th century. The maker used silk floss thread to embroider a pattern of polychromatic diamonds and borders.

Phulkari are embroidered shawls that are made out of cotton and silk in Punjab and the greater region of northwest India and parts of Pakistan. Embroiderers decorate plain-woven cotton fabric with abstract geometric, floral, or figurative patterns, using brilliantly colored floss silk.  The makers work from the back of the textiles and use a darning stitch so most of the silk shows on the front.

White-ground phulkari were popular in the 19th century, but in the 20th century embroiderers began to also use cotton that has been dyed with madder red or indigo blue.