Phulkari: The Embroidered Textiles of Punjab from the Jill and Sheldon Bonovitz Collection

by Cristin McKnight Sethi (Contributor), Darielle Mason (Contributor)

Exquisite and labor-intensive, phulkari (“floral-work” or “flower-craft”) embroideries were originally produced by women in towns and villages across the greater Punjab, a region that today straddles Pakistan and India, from at least the early 19th century into the first decades of the 20th. Phulkaris were made from brightly colored silk thread on rough, earth-toned fabric. When done for domestic use, they functioned primarily as women’s wraps at weddings or other important events. Especially following the Punjab’s devastating partition in 1947, phulkaris were also produced as commercial exports. Focusing on a group of nineteen stunning works from the collection of Jill and Sheldon Bonovitz, Phulkari surveys the genre’s fascinating history. This is the first publication outside South Asia specifically on this art form. It also offers significant new information on the craft and its importance to personal, familial, and regional identity in the past and the present. 

Published in association with the Philadelphia Museum of Art

Exhibition Philadelphia Museum of Art
(03/12/17–07/09/17)

96 pages, Hardcover

Published April 18, 2017

Reviews

[Jas · Rating 4 out of 5]

I was surprisingly pleased with this book. Given that it's a brief history, I think it covered a lot of great information about phulkaris and with a decent amount of nuance given that this is only 100 pages and a great deal of that is pictures of phulkaris from the collection. I'm actually really grateful to have it on my shelf and am hoping that an exhibit is available soon to visit and the Philadelphia Museum of Art.