This is a pair of embroidered panels shaped like elongated neckties with colourful tassels at its ends. Motifs in brilliant colours fill the piece, possibly done using silk thread embroidery. These include sprays of peonies in red, purple and orange outlined with gold thread embroidery. There are also motifs of birds and a phoenix. Peonies are symbols of love, beauty, spring and good fortune, while the phoenix symbolises beauty, grace, high virtue, the bride and the Empress. Birds and flowers depicted together also represent fertility and abundance. The above were all auspicious meanings associated with a wedding. Hence, this pair of ornamental hangings could have been suspended from the top of the wedding bed in preparation for the 12 day traditional Peranakan wedding.
