So hatten wir uns das jedenfalls gedacht, als wir diesen Namen für
das InfoSystem gewählt haben.
Leider mussten wir später feststellen, daß nadir in
Wirklichkeit doch etwas anderes bedeutet:
zenith,
point on the celestial sphere directly above an observer on the Earth.
The point 180 opposite the zenith, directly underfoot, is the
nadir. Astronomical zenith is defined by gravity; i.e., by sighting up
a plumb line. If the line were not deflected by such local irregularities in
the Earth's mass as mountains, it would point to the geographic zenith.
Because the Earth rotates and is not a perfect sphere, the geocentric zenith
is slightly different from the geographic zenith except at the Equator and
the poles. Geocentric zenith is the intersection with the celestial sphere
of a straight line drawn through the observer's position from the geometric
centre of the Earth.
Mughal style: Jahangir period (1605-27).
The emperor Jahangir, even as a prince, showed a keen interest in
painting and maintained an atelier of his own. His tastes, however, were not
the same as those of his father, and this is reflected in the painting,
which underwent a significant change. The tradition of illustrating books
began to die out, though a few manuscripts, in continuation of the old
style, were produced. For Jahangir much preferred portraiture; and this
tradition, also initiated in the reign of his father, was greatly developed.
Among the most elaborate works of his reign are the great court scenes,
several of which have survived, showing Jahangir surrounded by his numerous
courtiers. These are essentially large-scale exercises in portraiture, the
artist taking great pains to reproduce the likeness of every figure.
The compositions of these paintings have lost entirely the bustle and
movement so evident in the works of Akbar's reign. The figures are more
formally ordered, their comportment in keeping with the strict rules of
etiquette enforced in the Mughal court. The colours are subdued and
harmonious, the bright glowing palette of the Akbari artist having been
quickly abandoned. The brushwork is exceedingly fine. Technical virtuosity,
however, is not all that was attained, for beneath the surface of the great
portraits of the reign there is a deep and often spiritual understanding of
the character of the person and the drama of human life.
Many of the paintings produced at the imperial atelier are preserved in the
albums assembled for Jahangir and his son Shah Jahan. The Muraqqah-e Gulshan
is the most spectacular. (Most surviving folios from this album are in the
Gulistan Library in Tehran and the Staatliche Museen Preussischer
Kulturbesitz, Berlin; a section is temporarily housed in Tübingen.) There
are assembled masterpieces from Iran, curiosities from Europe, works
produced in the reign of Akbar, and many of the finest paintings of
Jahangir's master painters, all surrounded by the most magnificent borders
decorated with a wide variety of floral and geometrical designs. The album
gives a fairly complete idea of Jahangir as a patron, collector, and
connoisseur of the arts, revealing a person with a wide range of taste and a
curious, enquiring mind.
Jahangir esteemed the art of painting and honoured his painters. His
favourite was Abu al-Hasan, who was designated Nadir-uz-Zaman
("Wonder of the Age"). Several pictures by the master are known, among them
a perceptive study of Jahangir looking at a portrait of his father. Also
much admired was Ustad Mansur, designated Nadir-ul-'Asr ("Wonder of
the Time"), whose studies of birds and animals are unparalleled. Bishandas
was singled out by the emperor as unique in the art of portraiture. Manohar,
the son of Basavan, Govardhan, and Daulat are other important painters of
this reign.
Mansur,
also called USTAD ("Master") MANSUR (fl. 17th century, India), a leading
member of the 17th-century Jahangir studio of Mughal painters, famed for his
animal and bird studies. The emperor Jahangir honoured him with the title
Nadir-ul-'Asr ("Wonder of the Age"), and in his memoirs Jahangir
praises Mansur as "unique in his generation" in the art of drawing. Mansur
was primarily a natural history painter who avoided personal expression in
his careful studi= es.
Mansur made many studies of natural life under the direct orders of his
patron, who was passionately fond of recording the rare specimens that were
brought before him. A turkey cock painted about 1612 (Victoria and Albert
Museum, London) is attributed to Mansur and marks that bird's first
appearance in India. Similarly, while on a trip to the Kashmir Valley,
Jahangir ordered Mansur to paint as many varieties of local flowers as
possible, stating in his memoirs that the number depicted exceeded 100.
voladores, juego de los
(Spanish: "game of the fliers"), ritual dance of Mexico, possibly
originating among the pre-Columbian Totonac and Huastec Indians of the
region now occupied by Veracruz and Puebla states, where it is still danced.
Although the costumes and music show Spanish influence, the dance itself
survives almost exactly in its original form. Four or six men (the
voladores, or "flyers") dance on a platform atop a pole 60 to 90 feet (18 to
27 m) high; at the end of the dance, they circle downward around the pole as
the ropes that fasten them to it unwind. The ancient agricultural fertility
significance of the dance has disappeared, but there remains in the number
of dancers--four or six--the pre-Christian ritual orientation to the four
points of the compass plus the zenith and the nadir.
