Production Clusters Lucknow district: Lucknow: Chauk Daliganj Barabanki district: Barabanki Products Traditional: Rumalshandkerchiefs Skull caps

Angarkhas-long shirts Contemporary: Saris-draped cloth CHIKANKARI-EMBROIDERY OF LUCKNOW CHIKANKARI IS SUBTLE embroidery,white on white,in which minute and delicate stitches stand out as tedxtural contrasts,shadows and traceries.Some stitches are worked from the back and some from the front.In a unique,anokhi chikan,the stitches donot appear at the back. Bakhiya ,herringbone stitch,done on the reverse of the fabric,gives a shadow effect that became a dominant feature of the craft in the 1980s.Traders flooded markets with coarsely executed work and thoughtless design diversification had eroded the sensibility of the craft.The sensitive design intervention of organizations such as Dastkar and SEWA, were crucial in reintroducing finely crafted stitches such as murri,phanda,eyelets and a variety of jaali.This has improved the quality of craftsmanship and the livelihoods of craftspersons. Inset Fish motif with jaali or pulled thread work in the body.The fish motif was used in art and architecture after the Nawabs adopted the MAhi Murattib, the twin fish, as their state emblem. 1 White-on-white embroidery traditionally done on fine muslin uses darning,stem,satin and buttonhole stitches with pulled thread work and eyelets edged in buttonhole or stem stitch. The phanda stitch used on the edge of ambia or mango motifs creates an embossed texture. 2 Block used for printing the pattern before embroidering. 3 Chikan angarkha,garment stitched from fine muslin and embroidered with phanda stitch and wrapped back stitch,a revival of the elegance and refinement that was closely associated with Nawabi Culture. Kurtas-tunics Dupattas-stoles Scarves Drapes Table linen Tools Fine metal needles Scissors Wooden block for printing motifs

The fabric used is fine,and traditionally muslin.Chikan appears to have been derived from the Persian word chikin or chakin,meaning cloth wrought with needlework.It was originally a court craft having been introduced by Mughal empress Noorjahan.There were chikankaars in the courts of Kolkata,Delhi,Dhaka (Bangladesh),Gaya,Varanasi,Allahabad,Rampur and Bhopal.In Lucknow,the Nawabs of Avadh made the finely embroidered muslins a prescribed requirement of the ceremonial court.A single piece of chikan relies on many skilled craftsmen, designer, printer, embroiderer, washerman. Traditionally, different artisan families practiced and perfected one type of stitch and it would,therefore,often take between three to four craftsmen to embroider a single garment.

4 Detail of a large circular pattern with the royal emblem of twin fish and floral motifs using avariety of jaali work, eyelets, murri, phanda, and satin stitch. 5 Buta with mange motifs intricately rendered in bakhiya stitch, jaali work and phanda stitch. Amiba, keri or mango motifs are common to Benaras brocades, block prints and Lucknow embroidery. 6 A mango motif with a variety of embossed stitches. 7 A keri, mango motif, in taipchi stitch with a row of openwork. Taipchi or running stitch is the most elementary and inexpensive of all chikan embroideries and is used here to outline the motif.