Eyes of Pride, Cascade of Feathers: Peacocks in Symmetry Across Asia

This talk is free. Registration (with $10 refundable deposit) is required.
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From the medieval Islamic world to early modern South Asia, peacocks often appear in paired, symmetrical forms, carrying layered symbolic meanings. This talk explores such imagery across time and place, from the legendary Peacock Throne commissioned by the Mughal emperor Shah Jahan (r. 1628–58) to the Japanese-inspired Peacock Room (1877) by American artist James McNeill Whistler.

Structured in three parts – medieval West Asia, early modern South Asia, and the present – the talk traces the manifold ways in which the peacock has embodied ideas of pride, beauty, and grace. It considers how these associations have been reinterpreted across different cultural contexts, including in contemporary visual culture.

This talk is organised in conjunction with Peacock Power: Beauty and Symbolism Across Cultures, on view at the Peranakan Museum until 30 August 2026.

About the speaker


Vivek Gupta is an art historian and British Academy Postdoctoral Fellow at University College London (2023–26). His research focuses on the art and architecture of medieval and early modern South Asia and the broader Islamic and Indian Ocean worlds. He has written about transregional circulation, cultural exchange, intersections between art and science, and transmediality. He is the author of Wonders of Hindustan: Artists and Books in the Early Modern World (UCL Press) and curator of A Mughal Songbook: Art, Music, and Empire at the Fitzwilliam Museum, Cambridge.


About the moderator


Diane Chee is curator (Peranakan) at the Asian Civilisations Museum and the Peranakan Museum. She worked on the revamp of the Peranakan Museum’s permanent galleries in 2023 and curated the special exhibition Peacock Power: Beauty and Symbolism Across Cultures. Her current research focuses on expressions of Peranakan identity and intangible cultural heritage across Southeast Asia. She holds an MA in Asian Studies from Leiden University, the Netherlands.


^{Image from top to bottom:
Pair of kalamkari hangings. Iran, 19th century. Cotton (block-printed and painted). On loan from the Islamic Arts Museum Malaysia.
Kain panjang (long cloth) (detail). Indonesia, Java, Pekalongan, 1940s. Cotton (drawn batik). Peranakan Museum}