Exotic Reptile Print Ring | Shagreen Texture Band

Shagreen — the granular skin of the ray or shark, or the pressed and dyed leather made to replicate it — was used in the decorative arts of Japan, Persia, and Europe from at least the seventeenth century. In Europe it became associated with the Rococo period and with objects of particular refinement: sword handles, jewelry boxes, scientific instrument cases. The texture was functional before it was decorative — shagreen's grip made it ideal for handles that needed to hold under pressure.

The reptile print carries the same principle: a surface that is not smooth, that resists, that holds. In the symbolic vocabulary of the ring, texture is the declaration that the surface is alive — that it has not been reduced to the frictionless finish of something that wants to be forgotten.

925 sterling silver. Ring band.