Roure, Bertrand fils — Roure, Bertrand & Son — was a French essential-oil and perfumery firm at Grasse in Provence, one of the oldest and most prestigious French essential-oil houses, and a regular consultant of the Afdeeling Handelsmuseum at Amsterdam in the evaluation of Netherlands Indies essential-oil samples. The firm’s analytical report on the first Atjeh-distilled patchouli oil, dated December 1921 and preserved in *Bericht* No. 21 of the Afdeeling Handelsmuseum (April 1925), was the most favourable of the three European expert verdicts on the first Atjeh samples, and a counterweight to the unfavourable verdicts of Schimmel & Co. of Miltitz and Polak & Schwarz’s Essencefabrieken of Hilversum.
The Firm
Roure, Bertrand fils was founded at Grasse — the historic centre of the French perfumery industry — by the Bertrand family, whose essential-oil and perfumery business had been established in the late eighteenth century. By the early twentieth century the firm was one of the principal French houses in the Grasse essential-oil trade, alongside Antoine Chiris, Lautier Fils, and Justin Dupont. The Grasse firms were the principal buyers of patchouli oil on the French market, and their judgements on the quality of patchouli oil were therefore of decisive commercial importance for any producer seeking to enter the European market.
The December 1921 Atjeh Patchouli Report
Roure, Bertrand fils received the first Atjeh patchouli-oil samples from the Afdeeling Handelsmuseum in the autumn of 1921, alongside Schimmel & Co. of Miltitz and Polak & Schwarz’s Essencefabrieken of Hilversum. The firm’s report, dated December 1921, gave the following analytical constants:
| Constant | Sample I | Sample II |
|---|---|---|
| Specific gravity (15°) | 0.940 | 0.958 |
| Optical rotation (15°) | -0.93° | -1.20° |
| Saponification value | 0.30 | 1.20 |
| Acid value | 0.63 | 0.0 |
| Ether value | 8.00 | 7.7 |
| Saponification value after acetylation | 0.0 | 8.00 |
| Solubility in 80% alcohol | incompletely soluble with turbidity | — |
| Solubility in 90% alcohol | V and more | soluble only in 95% alcohol |
The Roure Bertrand report’s qualitative judgement was strikingly favourable:
“L’échantillon I a un bouquet excellent de beaucoup supérieur à celui du No. II. Ces essences sont de très bonne qualité et possèdent une valeur commerciale indiscutable.” — Sample I has an excellent bouquet, far superior to that of No. II. These essences are of very good quality and possess an indisputable commercial value.
The Handelsmuseum’s Reaction
The Afdeeling Handelsmuseum at Amsterdam was nonplussed by the disagreement of the three European houses. Schimmel & Co. of Miltitz had judged the first Atjeh oil not a “vollwertiges Konkurrenzprodukt für das Singaporeöl” — a full-value competitive product for the Singapore oil — and Polak & Schwarz’s Essencefabrieken of Hilversum had judged the odour “zeer matig” (very mediocre). The French house of Roure, Bertrand fils, in contrast, had found the same oils “de très bonne qualité” (of very good quality) and of “une valeur commerciale indiscutable” (an indisputable commercial value). The Handelsmuseum observed in its letter to Buitenzorg of 11 January 1922: “Daar sprak een gansch andere toon uit!” — a wholly different tone spoke from that! — but with three such divergent verdicts no conclusion could be drawn.
The Handelsmuseum’s advice was that, given the disagreement, a larger consignment of Atjeh patchouli oil should be placed in France — where Roure Bertrand fils’s favourable reception suggested a potential market — while the technical questions of distillation were addressed.
Significance
Roure, Bertrand fils is significant for the encyclopedia of Aceh history as the most favourable of the three European expert houses whose verdicts on the first Atjeh-distilled patchouli oil, preserved in the 1925 Bericht of the Afdeeling Handelsmuseum, framed the early history of the Atjeh patchouli experiments of 1921-1925. The firm’s favourable judgement of December 1921 was the principal external encouragement to the continuation of the experimental programme at a moment when the German and Dutch verdicts had been discouraging, and was the basis of the Afdeeling Handelsmuseum’s recommendation that a larger consignment of Atjeh oil be placed in France.
See Also
- Atjeh patchouli experiments (1921-1925)
- Over patchouly-olie en patchouly-blad van Atjeh (1925)
- Atjehsche Oliefabriek
- Schimmel & Co.
- Polak & Schwarz’s Essencefabrieken
- Laboratorium voor Technische Botanie (Delft)
- Afdeeling Handelsmuseum
- Koninklijke Vereeniging Koloniaal Instituut
- Grasse
- France
- Tapa Toean
- Singapore
- 1921
- 1922
- 1925
Source
Over patchouly-olie en patchouly-blad van Atjeh (Noord-Sumatra). Berichten van de Afdeeling Handelsmuseum van de Kon. Vereeniging Koloniaal Instituut, No. 21. Overgedrukt uit De Indische Mercuur van 8 en 15 Mei 1925. Amsterdam: Druk De Bussy. OCR-filename: 20260801_233856_DLP-153-Over_patchouly_olie_en_patchouly_blad_van_Atjeh_Noord_Sumatra_Nemotron-OCR-v2_OCR.txt, pp. 5-7 (December 1921 report by Roure, Bertrand fils).