Shagreen Shagreen Shagreen is a type of rawhide consisting of rough untanned skin, historically from a horse's or onager's back, or from shark or ray. In modern times, shagreen is produced from the skins of commercially-farmed Asian sting rays. The word derives from the French "chagrin" and is related to Italian "zigrino" and Venetian "sagrin", derived from the Turkic "sağrı" / "çağrı" 'rump of a horse' or the prepared skin of this part. The roughness of its texture led to the French meaning of anxiety, vexation, embarrassment, or annoyance. Shagreen has an unusually rough and granular surface, and is sometimes used
Shagreen is coloured from the other side. This latter form of shagreen was first popularised in Europe by (d. 1774), a master leatherworker in the court of Louis XV of France. It quickly became a fashion amongst the French aristocracy, and migrated throughout Europe by the mid-18th century. "The appeal of shagreen in Europe was closely bound up with the way the translucent skin absorbs colour, but in Japan, its whiteness was the measure of value". Scholars concur that its popularity in Central Asia, where green footwear made of shagreen was popular into the 19th century, probably came as the result