Phulkari, 1st half 20th century
(India/Pakistan, Punjab Region)
Indian Vintage Silk Embroidery
Silk on cotton, 50" x 88" (127 x 224 cm)

Provenance: Dr. Halvor & Astrid Jaeger Collection

Lot essay: Phulkari textiles, particularly finely detailed ones such as this example, have been prized and collected for decades. The Philadelphia Museum of Art recently had an exhibition (and publication) of Phulkari textiles from the Bonovitz collection (March 12 to July 9 2017).
From the late 19th century interest in Phulkari tradition has led to publications in English examining the textiles, including an 1883 article by Flora Steel in the Journal of Indian Art. Building on Rampa Pal’s 1950s study The Phulkari: A Lost Craft and reinvigorating collectors in the 1980s were books published in India that presented Phulkari textiles as a folk art.

Additional reading of recent scholarship: “Women’s Work: Phulkari, Flora Annie Steel, and Collecting Textiles in British India” in Melia Belli Bose’s edited volume Women, Gender, and Art in Early Modern Asia (Ashgate, 2016).