Natural Beige Hand Painted Madhubani Tussar Ghicha Silk Saree – Bhagalpuri

Milan

Undyed tussar in its own warm beige, and painted onto it a great fan of concentric arcs — rosettes, leaf rows, triangle bands — opening around two figures at the centre, one offering a lotus to the other. A row of fish swims beneath them. Flowering branches fill the ground beyond.

About the painting

This is hand-painted Mithila work, drawn directly onto the silk. Every arc was laid in by hand, one band at a time, and the hatching that fills each petal and leaf was made stroke by stroke — which is why the colour has depth where a print would be flat. No two rosettes are identical, and the arcs breathe rather than repeating exactly.

The palette is unusually soft: coral, orange, teal, blue-violet and green, all held light so the natural colour of the silk shows through. Nothing has been dyed or bleached beneath the painting. This is Mithila work on undyed cloth, which is as close as silk comes to the paper the tradition is painted on.

Two figures with a lotus between them is a Mithila subject of long standing — the exchange, the offering, the meeting. The fish below are for abundance.

About the fabric

Tussar Ghicha silk, handwoven in Bhagalpur, undyed. Ghicha is the yarn drawn from the outer layers of the cocoon and spun by hand — hence the slubby, uneven texture and the soft matte lustre. Undyed, it carries a warm golden cast no dyed beige quite reproduces.

Details

• Fabric: Tussar Ghicha Silk, undyed
• Colour: Natural beige with coral, teal, orange and green
• Work: Hand-painted Madhubani (Mithila), painted directly onto the silk
• Pallu: Fanned medallion with two figures and a lotus, fish border beneath
• Border: Hand-painted Madhubani, both sides
• Blouse piece: unstitched, 0.8 m
• Saree length: 5.5 m | Width: 1.1 m
• Care: Dry clean only. Do not soak or scrub the painted areas. Store wrapped in cotton or muslin, refold along a different line every few months.

A note on hand work

Each piece is woven individually and painted by hand, so no two are alike. Slight irregularities in the slub, in the line, and in the density of colour are the marks of the hand that made it. Undyed tussar also varies naturally in tone from piece to piece. Colour may vary a little from your screen.