Galuchat, the origins of an extravagant skin

“Galuchat”, also known as shagreen, is commonly known as a material used to cover various furniture pieces and also to create fine art objects since the 17th century. Popular as this leather - commonly described as a mysterious shark skin - may be its origins and provenance remain pretty unknown by the public.

Jean-Michel Frank
Coffee Table
Circa 1930
Oak and shagreen
© Sotheby’s

The first thing one should note is that galuchat isn’t an animal and therefore “galuchat skin” doesn’t exist. The noun given to this material actually refers to Mr Galluchat (now spelled galuchat) who lived during the 18th century. He wasn’t the first one to use fish skin as a leather but he was certainly one of its most skillful master. This leather craftsman, after many trials and errors, came up with a technique enabling him to turn this harsh dogfish or shark skin into a soft and colorful material.

Galuchat was first used in the East from the 17th century and especially in Japan where using fish skins as a leather was very common to create all sorts of small objects for daily use. As for Europe, objects coverred in galuchat became very popular during the 18th century among the high rank society and the Louis XV’s court which was fascinated by this extravagant material. Among the most common objects associated with galuchat at that time are optical instruments covered in black, green and sometimes pink galuchat.

Microscope
Optical elements by Claude-Siméon Passemant
Gilt bronze, shagreen, tinted parchment with gold tooling, steel, brass, mahogany, mirror glass, glass
Paris, ca. 1750
© Met Museum

One may note that it actually exists two types of Galuchat, either with big or small grains. The first one, with big grains, is the most famous one because it was the most commonly used especially in the 1920s by the furniture makers and designers such as J.M Frankc, A.Groult, JE.Ruhlmann who made it famous through their pieces.

Paul Iribarne Garay, called Iribe (1883 – 1935)
Paris, circa 1912
Mahogany and tulipwood, slate top, green shagreen covering, carved ebony knobs, base and garlands
© MAD

This type of galuchat is sometimes called the « real galuchat » and comes from ray skin fished in the warm seas of the Indian and Pacific oceans. The second type of galuchat , with small grains, is sometimes called « fake galuchat » because it comes from small sharks such as dogfish and therefore results in small skins used for tinier objects.