Atjehsche mode — the “Atjeh-style” cut and setting of jewels — was the specifically Atjeh fashion in which the late Sultan Iskander Tsani of Atjeh ordered his parcel of jewels from the VOC in 1640–1641. The jewels were cut to that Atjeh style and set in Holland to the Sultan’s design. The cut and setting “in andere Indische kwartieren niet gewild waren” — were not wanted in any other quarter of the Indies — which meant the consignment could only be placed in Atjeh, or the Company would have “een strop” (a noose, i.e. a loss) on its hands.
The jewel-order of Iskander Tsani
The late Sultan Iskander Tsani of Atjeh, before his death in 1641, had placed an outstanding order with the VOC for jewels. Justus Schouten had been in Atjeh the year before to receive the order; the jewels were then cut to Atjehsche mode in Holland and set to the Sultan’s design. As Godee Molsbergen notes, the cut and setting of the Atjehsche mode “in andere Indische kwartieren niet gewild waren” — were not wanted in any other quarter of the Indies — so the consignment “moesten ze per sé in Atjeh geplaatst worden, wilde de Compagnie er geen strop aan hebben” — had to be placed in Atjeh, or the Company would have a noose (i.e. a loss) on its hands.
The expression of an Atjeh-specific jewel-cutting style is itself an important cultural fact: the sultanate’s court had its own taste in cut and setting, distinct from that of other Indian and Indonesian markets, and the Company was prepared to manufacture to that specific taste. The Atjehsche mode was a recognisable local fashion, sufficiently distinct that jewels cut to it could not be disposed of elsewhere.
The failed sale of 1641
The jewel consignment cut to Atjehsche mode was the principal business of Soury’s 1641 embassy. The Sultana who succeeded Iskander Tsani was not liable for the order placed by her late husband; the Atjeh treasury would not authorise the 15,000 tayl (= 5,000 guilders) it would have cost. The Sultana already had many jewels, and female vanity could not be played upon, since jewels were not women’s wear in Atjeh. After long lobbying of the Orangkaja’s by Secretaris Jan van Riebeeck — many a gift delivered at their houses — a price was agreed for the greater part of the parcel, but for the future the import of jewels by the Company was forbidden in Atjeh.
In later years the Bewindhebbers (Directors) again tried to sell jewels in Atjeh, in vain; the stones had to be sent back to Holland, and the whole order produced “een leelijken schadepost” — an ugly loss. The Company could not forget Iskander Tsani, the besteller of the parcel — “maar de Atjehsche edelen hun Sultan” — but the Atjeh nobles [could not so easily forget] their Sultan.
Justus Schouten’s earlier sale, 1641
The order delivered by Soury’s embassy was not the first Atjeh jewel sale. Schouten had sold jewels in Atjeh in 1641 to the value of ƒ28,000 with 61% profit — and even then had not managed to dispose of the entire parcel, “daar er reeds te veel diamanten in Atjeh waren” — because there were already too many diamonds in Atjeh. The Schouten sale was thus also in Atjehsche mode, and its partial success — and the saturation of the Atjeh diamond market — was the immediate background against which the Soury mission’s failure must be understood.
Significance
For Atjeh’s history, the Atjehsche mode is the visible trace of an Atjeh court taste in jewels — a recognisable local fashion in cut and setting, sufficiently distinct from that of other Indian and Indonesian markets that jewels cut to it could not be sold elsewhere. The Company’s willingness to manufacture to that specific taste — and the Sultana’s refusal in 1641 to honour her late husband’s order — together produced one of the most concrete commercial failures of the early VOC-Atjeh relationship. The episode is also a measure of how a single sultan’s personal taste could shape the Company’s commerce, and of how his death could leave a European multinational holding an unsellable consignment.
See Also
- Iskander Tsani
- Pieter Soury’s mission to Atjeh (1641)
- Pieter Soury
- Justus Schouten
- Jan van Riebeeck
- Sultana of Atjeh (1641)
- Orangkaja
- Tayl
- 1641
- Acheh
- Vereenigde Oost-Indische Compagnie
Source
Tijdens de O.I. Compagnie, by Dr. E. C. Godee Molsbergen, Oud-Hoogleeraar, Landsarchivaris te Batavia (Amsterdam: N.V. Swets & Zeitlinger Boekhandel en Uitgevers Mij., 1932), chapter XII (“Juweelenhandel. Heeren Zeventien. Familieregeering”), pp. 43–47 of the numbered-letter sequence.