Atjeh goldsmithing — the soeasa wrapping technique — was the specifically Atjehnese method, described in Prof. T. J. Bezemer’s *Indonesische Kunstnijverheid* (1933) and further documented in F. A. Wagner’s *Sierkunst in Indonesië* (1949), of wrapping a copper core with a thin sheet of soeasa — a gold-copper alloy known in Dutch colonial parlance as spinsbek — to produce a gilded-or-silvered ornamental object. The technique is recorded as a distinctive practice of the Atjeh goldsmiths, illustrating the sultanate’s place in the wider Indonesian precious-metal craft tradition and contrasting with the à cire perdue casting of the Toba-Batak goldsmiths and the filigree of the Padangsche Bovenlanden.
The soeasa / spinsbek alloy
Soeasa — known in various indigenous languages by that name, and called spinsbek in Dutch colonial parlance — was an alloy of equal parts gold and copper. The Bezemer atlas of [[1933]] defines it as “Het roodachtige metaal dat onder den naam van spinsbek bekend staat (in verschillende inlandsche talen: ‘soeasa’) en dat bestaat uit een mengsel van gelijke deelen goud en koper” — “The reddish metal that is known by the name of spinsbek (in various indigenous languages as soeasa) and that consists of a mixture of equal parts gold and copper.” The alloy’s reddish tint, derived from the copper, gave the metal its distinctive colour. Soeasa was used across the archipelago as a cheaper alternative to high-karat gold for ornaments.
The Bezemer atlas records two interpretations of why the alloy was used. According to some, “zou dit niet het gevolg zijn van het streven van den Indonesiër naar versiering van hooge metaalwaarde, maar van de door hem het meest gewenschte kleur” — that is, that the alloy was chosen not for its high metal value but for the colour the goldsmith most desired. According to others, “is het meer toe te schrijven aan de noodzakelijkheid om ook voor minder gegoede koopers gouden of zilveren sieraden te vervaardigen, dus om goedkooper te werken” — that is, that the alloy was chosen of necessity, to produce golden or silver ornaments for less well-to-do buyers, and so to work more cheaply. The two interpretations need not be mutually exclusive: a gold-copper alloy simultaneously gives a redder colour and a cheaper price.
The Atjeh wrapping technique
The *Indonesische Kunstnijverheid* describes the Atjeh technique in detail: “Bij de Atjehers b.v. wordt een stuk soeasa zoo plat gemaakt dat het geschikt is om een koperen staaf te omwikkelen, waarbij gezorgd wordt dat het dunne metaal goed tegen het koper aansluit. Nadat alles met een touwtje omwonden is, wordt het voorwerp in een mengsel van borax en water gehouden en daarna in een vuurtje van gloeiende kolen geplaatst. Zoodra de werkman bemerkt dat het metaal eenigszins begint te vloeien, koelt hij het af door er een kommetje water over te gooien. Op het aambeeld worden dan met een ijzeren hamer de oneffenheden van het soeasa gelijk geslagen.”
Translated: At Atjeh, for example, a piece of soeasa is flattened so thin that it is suitable for wrapping a copper rod, care being taken that the thin metal fits closely against the copper. After everything is bound with a string, the object is dipped in a mixture of borax and water and then placed in a fire of glowing coals. As soon as the workman notices that the metal has begun to flow slightly, he cools it by pouring a bowl of water over it. On the anvil, the irregularities of the soeasa are then hammered flat with an iron hammer.
The technique thus combines mechanical wrapping (the soeasa sheet is bound onto the copper core with string) with a brief heat-treatment (the borax-and-water dip followed by the coal-fire heating, then the water-quench) that bonds the soeasa to the copper by partial melting. The final hammering on the anvil removes the irregularities produced by the heat-treatment.
Comparison with European practice
The same source notes that the soeasa wrapping technique stands in contrast to European goldsmithing, where the gilding or silvering of copper objects was achieved by plating (vergulden or verzilveren) rather than by wrapping with a thin sheet of precious metal: “Veelvuldig komt ook de versiering van koperen voorwerpen tot stand door deze niet, zooals bij ons, te vergulden of te verzilveren, maar ze met dun bladgoud te omwikkelen.” The Atjeh technique is therefore a specifically Southeast Asian practice — distinct from both European plating and the alternative Indonesian practice of wrapping with thin gold-leaf.
Comparison with Sumatran alternatives
The Atjeh soeasa wrapping technique is one of several regional Sumatran precious-metalwork traditions documented in the late colonial Dutch scholarship. The same section of the Bezemer atlas’s Inleiding (§ H. Goud- en Zilverwerk) that documents the Atjeh soeasa technique also records the filigree (*filigraanwerk*) of the Padangsche Bovenlanden — “Een geliefkoosd procédé voor zilverwerk is het filigraan werk, waarvoor in het bijzonder de Padangsche Bovenlanden bekend zijn” — and the granulation (*granuleeren*) of the Bataks, Dyaks and Timorese, as documented in J. E. Jasper en Mas Pirngadie’s De Inlandsche Kunstnijverheid in Nederlandsch-Indië, Vol. IV, pp. 25–26 and p. 65. The Toba-Batak goldsmiths of Noord-Sumatra cast their ornaments by the à cire perdue process, using *rimbaga* (a wax-resin-fat compound) for the wax model; the Padang smiths drew fine silver wire and bent it into figured patterns; the Batak smiths decorated their surfaces with granulation; the Atjeh smiths, by contrast, wrapped a copper core with soeasa sheet and heat-bonded it to the core. The four techniques — Atjeh wrapping, Toba-Batak casting, Padang filigree, Batak granulation — together constitute the Sumatran repertoire of precious-metalwork techniques documented in the late colonial period.
Atjeh goldsmithing in context
The Atjeh soeasa wrapping technique was applied in particular to arm- and foot-rings: “Vooral bij arm- en voetringen wordt deze werkwijze veel toegepast” — This method is especially applied to arm- and foot-rings. Arm- and foot-rings were standard items of personal adornment across the archipelago; the Atjeh use of soeasa wrapping for these objects placed the sultanate’s goldsmiths within a wider regional craft tradition, while the specific soeasa technique gave the Atjeh products a distinctive material quality. The technique is also documented in connection with two further Atjeh metalwork specialities recorded by Wagner in 1949: the *heetsen* of gold (the heat-reddening of gold, “vooral op Atjeh voorkomt”) and the *tjawardi* enamelling technique (“vrijwel alleen in Atjeh” practised, probably imported from China).
Significance
For Atjeh’s history, the soeasa wrapping technique is a small but concrete instance of the sultanate’s craft tradition — a specifically Atjeh method of producing gilded ornaments, distinct from European plating and from other Indonesian practices. The technique also testifies to the place of Atjeh goldsmiths in the wider Sumatran and archipelago craft-world: the same sources note that the Padang Bovenlanden were known for their filigree (*filigraanwerk*) and that the *granuleeren* (granulation, “the ball-technique”) of Bataks, Dyaks and Timorese was a different decorative technique again. Atjeh’s distinctive contribution to that craft-geography was the soeasa wrapping of arm- and foot-rings — a technique that gave the appearance of solid gold to objects whose bulk was copper, and so made large ornaments affordable to “less well-to-do buyers” across the sultanate.
See Also
- Acheh
- Indonesische Kunstnijverheid (Bezemer 1933)
- Sierkunst in Indonesië
- T. J. Bezemer
- J. E. Jasper
- Mas Pirngadie
- De Inlandsche Kunstnijverheid in Nederlandsch-Indië
- Spinsbek
- Rimbaga
- Cire perdue
- Granuleeren
- Filigraanwerk (Padangsche Bovenlanden)
- Heetsen
- Tjawardi
- Atjeh silver-wire ornament
- Atjeh silk ikat weaving
- Atjeh sirih-schotel
- Atjeh weefgetouw
- Padangsche Bovenlanden
- Toba-Bataklanden
- 1933
- 1949
- Acehnese Gold and Silverwork
- Batavian Society Treasure Room Aceh Collection
- Koninklijk Bataviaasch Genootschap van Kunsten en Wetenschappen
Sources
Indonesische Kunstnijverheid. Platen-Atlas met Inleiding van Prof. T. J. Bezemer (‘s-Gravenhage: N.V. tot Exploitatie van het Maandblad “Nederl-Indië, Oud en Nieuw”; ten Hagen’s Drukkerij en Uitgeversmaatschappij N.V., 15 October 1933), p. 13 (§ H. Goud- en Zilverwerk, on the spinsbek / soeasa alloy and the Atjeh wrapping technique). Universiteitsbibliotheek Vrije Universiteit, Amsterdam, LS 5411.
Sierkunst in Indonesië, by F. A. Wagner, Insulinde — Serie Handleidingen voor de Kennis van Indonesië, Vol. VI (Groningen, Batavia: J. B. Wolters’ Uitgevers-Maatschappij N.V., 1949), pp. 136–137 (on the heetsen heat-reddening of gold at Atjeh) and p. 142 (on the tjawardi enamelling technique).
De Inlandsche Kunstnijverheid in Nederlandsch-Indië, by J. E. Jasper en Mas Pirngadie, Vol. IV (on gold- and silverwork), pp. 25–26 (on the cire perdue casting process used by Toba-Batak goldsmiths on Noord-Sumatra) and p. 65 (on the granuleeren granulation technique of the Bataks, Dyaks and Timorese). Gids voor den bezoeker van de schatkamer, Koninklijk Bataviaasch Genootschap van Kunsten en Wetenschappen, Batavia, 1928. Druk: Ruygrok & Co., Batavia. Cabinets 3, 4, and 5 (Atjeh), passim.