“This peahen, of the green Southeast Asian Pavo muticus species is notable (unlike her famous blue peafowl relations in India), for being almost as beautiful as the males of her species. Her coverts or ‘train’ may not be as long but she is certainly as regal and as iridescent as any preening male.

Peafowl have been enduring symbols for millennia: their likeness has adorned Byzantine mosaics, Roman urns, Japanese scrolls and woodblock prints, Dutch paintings, Victorian wallpaper, haute couture fashion, napkin holders and weather vanes. Of course it isn’t only the peafowl’s likeness that has been rendered aesthetic but the bird’s plumage – used in hats, fascinators, fans and even, in the nineteenth century, as decoration on ornate peacock-shaped Indian lutes.

There are a variety of cultural readings as to what peafowl symbolize: in Indian poetry the bird was a metaphor for courtship, in early European art they symbolized ‘renewal’ (this, in part, because peacock feathers shed naturally and then grew back each spring).

I think this particular bird (a domestic peahen donated after death by her keeper) reflects some of the traits that make peafowl so alluring: exceptionalism and extraordinary and improbable beauty. Like many species Pavo muticus suffers from habitat destruction and hunting. They are officially listed as Endangered.”

Aislinn Hunter, Author.