He, like the country, is in decline and his angst has an elegiac, post-imperial quality.
Originally scheduled to open in 2012, Shipwrecked: Tang Treasures and Monsoon Winds contains imperial-quality silver, gold, and ceramic artifacts salvaged from a 9th century ship, the Belitung.
Some high-quality imperial scholarship clings resolutely to the view that empires are a good thing, and that the possession of one is a sign of both present and future strength.
What especially caught QS's eye this year, however, was the quality of Imperial's research.
Perhaps no stout has more of a rich, roasted quality than imperial stout, also known as Russian stout.
In fact some MBA and executive MBA students worry we are diluting their brand, because if you look at the history of online programmes you could argue that they were mostly done by universities and business schools of much lower quality than Imperial, such as the University of Phoenix.
The most talented artists and craftsman were employed by the palace and created the highest-quality Ottoman imperial objects.
In fact, reserve was seen as a quality of the imperial class, and even in the mid-20th century, Alan Bennett's working-class mother thought that shyness was a "burdensome virtue", a mark of sensitivity and refinement that saved someone from being "common".
Could Mets fans in Connecticut possess a kind of hybrid vigor, Redsoxy enough to steel themselves against frequent disappointment but sufficiently New York-inflected to appreciate the fruits of success without the imperial, some might say arrogant, qualities of actual Yankee fans?
His years signed to Nat Joseph's Transatlantic label represent an imperial phase that, for quantity and quality, remains virtually unrivalled in any era.
