A Ming dynasty canopy bed with decorative latticework .stands in the corridor in a modern pied-a-terre house in Chelsea. Such beds would have been placed in alcoves and used not only for sleeping but also for leisure, study and households tasks during the day. Typically, they would have been draped with fabric to suit the season-silk or cotton for the winter months; gauze netting in the summer to allow breezes to filter thrugh. London. UK