Bomkai Sonepuri Ivory Cotton Saree Tribal Buti Temple Border

A handwoven Bomkai Sonepuri saree from the looms of Subarnapur district in western Odisha The ivory cotton body is scattered with extra weft figurative buti small running deer fish and dot flower motifs woven directly into the cloth not printed on top The deep brown border carries the traditional Kumbha temple repeat in graduated triangles and the pallu opens into three ornate sun wheel medallions with a band of tribal procession figures and a row of cotton tassels at the hem How to tell a real Sonepuri Bomkai from a powerloom imitation every motif is built with an extra weft thread that the weaver inserts and discards by hand at the loom Turn the cloth over and the back of each deer or fish shows loose irregular thread floats the signature of supplementary weft work A powerloom print by contrast has identical motifs on both faces and a glassy surface that sits on top Look at the Kumbha border handwoven temple triangles step in tiny half millimetre variations because the weaver counts threads not pixels Bomkai weaving belongs to a small cluster of family looms around Sonepur and Bargarh and the tradition is GI tagged A piece like this is ten to fourteen days at the loom for a single weaver with the pallu medallions alone accounting for two to three days of slow extra weft picking The figure vocabulary deer peacocks kalasha pots and dancers comes from the Jagannath temple iconography of Puri which is why the same motifs appear in Pattachitra paintings from the region Drape this for a day wedding an art gallery opening a Diwali brunch or any occasion where you want quiet detail rather than loud shine Pair with the cream blouse it comes with or switch to deep oxblood charcoal or forest green for evening Oxidised silver jhumkas and an antique brass bangle stack finish the look