Dividing a headboard into a raised centre and two lower wings is a shape borrowed from the chair back, and it is more useful on a bed than it looks. Two people sleeping side by side each lean against their own wing; the centre panel is where nobody sits, so it can be lifted forward and made into the feature without getting in anyone's way. Form following use, as most good furniture shapes do.
Making that centre a heart is a decision about warmth rather than about romance. A circle or an oval at the middle would read as formal; a heart softens the composition and gives the pierced carving above it a curved base to sit on, which is why the scrollwork resolves so easily into the crest.
Pale on pale is the harder finish to carve for, and our master Indian artisans cut deeper for it. On a white frame there is no colour contrast doing the work - only shadow - so every scroll has to be undercut far enough to cast one. Shallow carving on a white piece disappears entirely under the finish.