A pair of silver curtain hooks made in the 1930-1960's for the four poster wooden beds' embroidered curtains.The hand stitched silk curtains were part of the trousseau of very young brides who were merely in their mid teens.

The Baba Nyonya in Malay is also known as the Straits-born Chinese. They were merchants trading in South East Asia from the 14th century onwards.They depended on the Monsoons to ship them back and forth to China. The round trip took about nine months and involved a stop over for about six months. Some merchants married local women, adopting the local culture, eating habits and spoke their language. Over the course of time they developed a unique culture of their own which combined a blend of Ming dynasty Chinese customs with the Malay culture.

Birds perched on anchor silver curtain hooks.

Leaves and flower silver hooks.

Heart shape flowers and three leaves bouquet silver hooks.

Morning glory silver hooks.

A lotus flower design with a phoenix in the medallion is symbolic of purity and power.This open work silver bed ornament decorates the bed of the newly weds and for storing fragrant flower petals.

note: 4 cm by 1 cm strip of plain silver is missing on the main piece. It is not visible.

Engraved floral scroll on a pillar silver hooks.

Dragon motif silver hooks with incised Daoist and the eight treasures emblems.

The dragon is decorated with scales and floral scroll motif. It is hanging from a repoussé and incised bell shape dome.

A pair of finely incised, chased and open work four poster bed ornaments used for decorating the bed of the newly weds. The top dome shape piece is decorated with floral scrolls and lotus petals. The lower piece has a "Ba Gua" in Chinese Feng Shui is a motif for warding off negative energies and is surrounded by the 8 auspicious symbols done in the open work. Jasmine and other fragrant flowers are kept in this box.

The pair on the top is finely repoussé and decorated with some of the eight treasures together with some emblems of the Taoist eight immortals. The medallion depicts a "Chi Lin" an auspicious mythical creature.The other three pairs are decorated with floral scrolls. They are stitched onto the ends of the bolster and are part of the decoration for the bridal bed.