White muslin handkerchief with a border of 'chikan' embroidery in white cotton and pink silk, depicting figures in a type of Muslim dress and early steam locomotives, palm trees and birds. Handkerchief, with 'chikan' embroidery, Calcutta, mid 19th century The East India Railway opened between Calcutta (Howrah) and Pandua in 1854. This delightful handkerchief is embroidered in white cotton thread with a repeating design of figures, palm trees and what appears to be railway carriages. Trains were popluar motifs in both embroidered and woven fabrics in Bengal in the 19th century. This type of fine white-on-white embroidery is known as chikan work, a term of unknown origin, and it was done mainly in Dhaka (today the capital of Bangladesh) and Calcutta in eastern India, and then in Lucknow.