When the curatorial team at the Peranakan Museum lifted the veil on their latest exhibition, Peacock Power: Beauty and Symbolism Across Cultures, the room shimmered. Against the glow of spotlights, dazzling objects; bejeweled belts, embroidered slippers, sacred hangings, reflected the splendour of an icon that has captivated artists and devotees across centuries: the peacock.

Opening on 31 October 2025, this exhibition marks not just a milestone for the museum but also Singapore’s 60th anniversary of independence (SG60). It is, in many ways, a celebration of beauty, power, and interconnectedness—qualities the peacock embodies with effortless grace.

“Perhaps no animal in the natural world is more resonant for all of us,” said Peter Lee, curatorial advisor and Peranakan art scholar. “Whatever community we come from, the peacock evokes the same sense of wonder. It’s really about shared heritage and shared memory.”

Peacock Power features more than 100 artworks drawn from the National Collection and generous private lenders, spanning ceramics, textiles, jewelry, and sacred art. Through the motif of the peacock, the exhibition traces an extraordinary visual journey, across India, China, Southeast Asia, and beyond, revealing how artistic traditions evolve through exchange.

For the curators, the Peranakan world offers the perfect lens to explore these connections. “The Peranakans were early global collaborators,” Lee noted. “Their art links Indian, Malay, Javanese, and Chinese craftsmanship. It’s about how we’re all connected.”

During the press preview, we were guided through the exhibition’s various sections. The first, Peacock and Peranakan, glitters with symbols of auspiciousness and beauty used in wedding ceremonies. Among them: a diamond-studded belt featuring almost 80 carats of diamonds, its peacock centrepiece inscribed with a five-carat stone forming the letter “M.”

This belt was likely made by a Singaporean craftsman using a special technique showcasing the brilliance of diamonds. Surrounding it are embroidered textiles, ornate ornaments, and even groom’s jackets adorned with peacock rank badges, all testaments to how the bird symbolised prestige, refinement, and prosperity in Peranakan life.

In the next section, the museum dedicated the space to the materiality of the peacock’s feathers, their iridescence, their allure, and their sacred uses. In Hindu and Indian cultures, peacock feathers symbolise good fortune and protection from the evil eye.

On display: delicate feather fans from the Chitty Melaka community and a luxurious 17th-century Mughal morchhal, once used to fan emperors and empresses. Mountmaker Sheikha, who has worked with the museum for nine years, demonstrated the intricate process of safely displaying these fragile objects—a quiet tribute to the unseen craftsmanship behind the scenes.

Nearby, a digital reproduction of an East Javanese peacock dance costume awaits the arrival of real feathers certified under international wildlife regulations, reminding visitors that beauty and conservation must coexist.

We then proceeded to The Peacock as Universal Symbol, where the exhibition expands its wings. Here, the bird appears in the spiritual imaginations of multiple faiths—Buddhist, Taoist, Hindu, Christian, and Islamic traditions alike.

A Taoist birthday hanging of the goddess Magu glows with a halo of peacock feathers, surrounded by unexpected Christian cherubs. In another case, a Hindu temple tile series depicts the god Murugan, his mount the peacock Paravani, each tile made in Japan yet inspired by South Indian iconography—a perfect encapsulation of global artistic crosscurrents.

A video installation accompanies this section, featuring three generations of Chettinad devotees carrying kavadi adorned with peacock feathers during Singapore’s Thaipusam festival. In a way, it represents continuity, where despite time allowing these traditions to evolve, the symbol remains constant—a bridge between devotion, identity, and artistry.

The exhibition’s middle sections trace how the peacock traveled with traders across seas and centuries. In Javanese batiks from Pekalongan, the bird adorns kain panjang (long cloths) once worn by Peranakan women. In ceramics, the motif flits from Tang Dynasty China to 19th-century England, appearing on everything from export porcelain to Scottish rice plates made for Southeast Asian markets.

These objects tell a story not just of art but of movement—of how ideas, techniques, and aesthetics migrate. A Peranakan door hanging from India, made with Venetian beads, sits beside a Lingnan School painting by Zhao Shao’ang and a naturalistic peacock study by Singaporean artist Chen Wen Hsi—each one a conversation across time and place.

In Winged Wonders, visitors encounter mythical hybrids—the Gandaberunda, a fierce two-headed bird from Indian folklore; the Burak, a celestial steed with a peacock’s tail from Islamic traditions; and the phoenix, whose tail is said to be that of a peacock.

The exhibition closes, fittingly, where it began: with Peranakan art. A magnificent pair of door curtains embroidered with phoenixes, once hung in a Peranakan wedding chamber, radiates auspicious wishes for fidelity and grace.

And then comes the contemporary echo: Ernest Goh’s new commission, Thousand Eyes. The large-scale photographic montage, featuring laser-etched images of human irises arranged like a peacock’s tail, reimagines the ancient motif for a modern world. “The ‘thousand eyes’ of the peacock remind us of awareness—of watching, protecting, and reflecting,” Goh shared. “I wanted to link that to nature, using leaves as symbols of impermanence and renewal.”

Visitors can also step into Peacock Paradise, an immersive holographic experience that lets them observe the bird’s famed courtship dance up close. Interactive stations allow children and adults alike to design digital peacock motifs, while curator-led tours and a Weekend Festival will further explore the bird’s splendour across faiths and borders.

“The peacock embodies the multicultural character that lies at the heart of Singapore’s identity,” said Clement Onn, Director of the Asian Civilisations Museum and Peranakan Museum. “Through this exhibition, we celebrate not only art and beauty but the shared stories that unite us.”

As the curators led guests through rooms filled with luminous textiles, shimmering ceramics, and centuries of craftsmanship, one message resounded: the peacock may be a single motif, but it holds multitudes.

From the feathers adorning a Peranakan bride’s belt to the iridescent wings of mythical creatures, Peacock Power reveals how beauty transcends borders, faiths, and time. It is, as Peter Lee aptly put it, “a celebration of our shared heritage, and a reminder that art, like the peacock’s tail, is most beautiful when it reflects all our colours.”

Photo Credit: Peranakan Museum

Peacock Power: Beauty and Symbolism Across Cultures runs from 31st October 2025 to 30th August 2026 at the Special Exhibitions Gallery, Peranakan Museum, 39 Armenian Street. More information available here