This beaded ornament would have been hung on a Peranakan wedding bed. Birds were popular motifs associated with fertility and marital bliss. Wedding chamber ornaments usually depict fertility symbols such as butterflies, goldfish and peonies in full bloom, reflecting the wish to have many heirs to the family name. Wedding chamber ornaments were usually commissioned in pairs, as the Peranakans consider the number ‘two’ as auspicious.
