We have only just begun to scratch… the skin of aquatic leather. As far as we have been able to ascertain thus far, the literature is rich but very patchy. Roman Vávra has recently provided an outline for the world history of aquatic skin production and use in his richly documented study on “Fish and Chaps: Some Ethnoarchaeological Thoughts on Fish Skin Use in European Prehistory,” Open Archaeology 6 (2020): 329–347. Several of the objects we considered in our post are featured in Vávra’s article.
Lotte Rahme practiced “fish leather” production, documented the process and her various articles provide invaluable information on the technical aspects of the craft; she has also pioneered the reintroduction of technical training in fish leather production in Sweden. See her easily accessible short article entitled “Fish Skin, a Sustainable Material Used from Ancient Times to Today’s Fashion,” Form Akademisk 14.2 (2021): 1–16. See also her book, with Doug Hartman, Fish Leather: Tanning and Sewing with Traditional Methods (Sigtuna: Lottas Tannery, 2012). Additionally the richly illustrated article in HAKAI magazine “The art of turning fish into leather” (https://hakaimagazine.com/features/the-art-of-turning-fish-into-leather/) by Cloe Williams comments on the fact that current needs of the fashion industry are breathing new life into the old tradition of fish skin proceesing.
In terms of technical aspects described by practitioners, it has been useful to consult Jim Miller’s “Fish Skin Bags,” Bulletin of Primitive Technology 23 (2002): 42–43.
In ““Fips” and His Eels: Fish Skin in Bookbinding,” Book Arts/Arts du Livre Canada 10.2 (2019): 5–16, Peter D. Verheyen provides a fascinating account of the usage of dried skin (which he calls “parchment”) or tanned skin (leather) of a variety of species, including cod, carp, eel, and shark.
On shagreen use and transfers between medieval Asia and early modern Europe, a lot of our information comes from Christine Bell’s article “Material Culture: Shagreen in the Babur-Nama,” in Religion and State in the Altaic World, ed. Oliver Corff (Berlin: DeGruyter, 2022)
Mentions of the use and properties of sea skins in ancient Greek and Latin literature are not many, but some are listed in the text of this blog, where references are given. Tables with the maximum prices of various products and services (including seal skins) can be found in the online article A. Kropff 2016. “An English translation of the Edict on Maximum Prices, also known as the Price Edict of Diocletian (Edicum de pretiis rerum venalium)”. http://kark.uib.no/antikk/dias/priceedict.pdf