Phulkari textiles are traditionally shawls embroidered in silk on coarse handspun cotton fabric made by women in the Punjab, mainly to be gifted as part of a bride’s dower. Phulkari, meaning “flower work”, can be classified into various types, based on the designs and motifs used. The basic phulkari comprises of geometric flower motifs embroidered across the field of the fabric, with the coarse fabric visible. The bagh (garden) style covers the entire fabric with embroidery. The sainchi style comprises of village themes, including people, houses, animals, etc. in various scenes. This superlative example is a unique sainchi – bagh, i.e. a sainchi with the background completely covered in embroidery, which is highly unusual for this type of phulkari.
