Plate XII.
BERGAMA
Thirty to forty years old
From the Collection of the Author
Size: 3.1 x 3.5
All Mohammedan dating (with exceptions not to be considered here, however interesting historically) is from the Hegira. The reckoning is not from the time of Mohammed’s “flight” from Medina (September, 622), but from a day about two months earlier; namely, the first day of that Arabian year. This beginning of the epoch, according to the best modern authorities, probably corresponds to July 16, 622.
Mohammedan chronology, however, is often expressed in other ways than by clear figures, and such florid records are most difficult to interpret. Again, in old manuscripts, on coins and on a few rare antique carpets, the date is written out in full, in so many words; as, for instance, “two-hundred-and-five-and-twenty-after-the-thousand.” Intricate dates like these are to be solved only by an expert.
But when the year is in question, without regard to month or day, and when the year is written in legible figures, a rough formula for computing the corresponding Christian date is as follows: Subtract from the given Mohammedan year one thirty-third part of itself, and add to the remainder six hundred and twenty-two. Thus: A. H. 1196 = A. D. 1196 - 36 + 622 = A. D. 1782. This is accurate enough for all practical purposes, and involves no difficulty except the deciphering of the Arabic digits. The failure to subtract this essential one thirty-third part explains frequent misreadings by the ignorant dealer or uninitiated amateur. That six hundred and twenty-two must be added to the given Mohammedan date explains itself. But it must be remembered also that the Moslem year is lunar, and thus a little more than eleven days shorter than our solar year. Their reckoning therefore gains one year in every thirty-three of our computation.
Modern commercial rugs of ordinary quality are occasionally provided with a date or other calligraphic figure to simulate the real signed and dated masterpieces. This trickery should never deceive even the most unwary, unless the piece is of exceptional merit; and then, there is no deception; or at least there is value received.