Galuchat leather

Eyeglass case
MFA# 63.1071

Rayskin hilt
MFA Acc. #:11.11252a

Description

A rough surface Leather produced from the skin of rays and sharks. Galuchat leather, named for the French casemaker, J. Galuchat, was first made in the 18th century. The hard and durable skin is prepared with the natural pearly gray or dyed green color. It was used in the 18th century for small decorative items, scientific instrument covers and sword hilts. Galuchat leather is still made in Japan and is used to trim purses. It was sometimes incorrectly called Shagreen because both had a pebbly surface and were often dyed green.

Synonyms and Related Terms

galuchat (Fr.); pearl sharkskin; shagreen; rayskin; ray skin; sharkskin

Additional Images

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  Dyed rayskin
  Holbert Craft Creation

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  Close-up image of pebbled surface on dyed rayskin
  Holbert Craft Creation

Resources and Citations

• J.Gopfrich, "The Granulated Donkey? Shagreen; Some Aspects of Conservation" in ICOM Preprints, Lyon, 1999. p. 685-690.
• G.S.Brady, Materials Handbook, McGraw-Hill Book Co., New York, 1971 Comment: p. 704
• Matt Roberts, Don Etherington, Bookbinding and the Conservation of Books: a Dictionary of Descriptive Terminology, U.S. Government Printing Office, Washington DC, 1982
• Tom Rowland, Noel Riley, A-Z Guide to Cleaning, Conserving and Repairing Antiques, Constable and Co., Ltd., London, 1981