According to Mr. Carpenter, the chattering mynah bird had come to symbolize honesty and independent thinking.

WSJ: Flights of Feathered Fancy | Birds in the Art of Japan | Metropolitan Museum of Art | By Lee Lawrence

In one of the most stunning works on view, more than 100 mynah birds populate an unsigned early-17th-century pair of folding screens.

WSJ: Flights of Feathered Fancy | Birds in the Art of Japan | Metropolitan Museum of Art | By Lee Lawrence