The ornaments used to decorate the wedding bed were the most elaborate and extravagant. As Edmund Chin has pointed out in Gilding the Phoenix, no pains were spared when beautifying the environment of the newly-wed couple. The exuberant colour contrasts evoked a sense of gaeity and festivity, traits that are distinctive in all Peranakan works of art.

Many of these adornments had talismanic significance and invoked auspicious blessings, exemplified by the panel hanging in the present lot which is couched with gilt thread with the double-happiness character xuangxi. A similar hanging from the collection of the National Museum of Singapore is illustrated by Eng-Lee Seok Chee, Festive Expressions - Nonya Beadwork and Embroidery, p. 73, where it is also demonstrated how the tie-shaped hangings are displayed. A pair of these ornaments with comparable decoration to the present pair, were sold in these Rooms, 31 March 1996, lot 927. Cf. also a similar example from the heirloom of Seah Liang Seah, illustrated by Ho Wing Meng, Straits Chinese Beadwork & Embroidery, fig. 57 (right).

While the textile ornaments could be purchased, in traditional Peranakan families, the embroideries were sewn by the bride, as a display of her diligence and artistry.

US$7000-8500