The indigenous origins of Russia leather
Rose Camara
Unknown Nenet Maker, Hide, ca. 1780, Russia, Leather, The Chipstone Foundation, 1996.171, Photo credit: Gavin Ashworth.
In 1786 Die Frau Metta Catharina von Flensburg, a two-masted sailing ship, was en route from St. Petersburg, Russia, to Genoa, Italy. It carried a six-person crew and hundreds of bundles of Russia leather, made from reindeer hide. Caught in a worsening storm, the vessel docked in Plymouth Sound on the southwest coast of England. The Metta Catharina was not spared, though. The tempest ripped her from her anchor and smashed her into rocks near Drake’s Island. The crew survived, but the ship sank 98 feet to the bottom of The Sound, and there lay derelict for nearly 200 years.
Between 1973-2006, the Nautical Archaeology branch of the Plymouth Sound British Sub-Aqua Club, led by Ian Skelton, excavated the shipwreck. They made an extraordinary discovery: the cargo was mostly intact. While the outer layers of the bundles were decayed, the inner layers had been preserved due to the stable, oxygen-free environment.
In the 17th and 18th centuries, Russia leather was a valuable luxury material, in high demand across Western Europe and the American colonies. It upholstered furniture, lined coffins, and made bags, shoes, and saddle goods. Treated with birch oil and seal fat, it was known for its softness, suppleness, water resistance, insect repellence, distinctive aroma, and diced pattern on the hair side. Luxury goods today continue to be made from the surviving leather, attesting to its durability.
Rather than focusing on the fate of the Metta Catharina and the continuing use of its cargo by contemporary leather brands, such as George Cleverley, here I want to look in another direction: to this leather’s possible origin with Indigenous peoples such as the Chukchi, Evenki, Khanti, Mansi, and Nenets. It may well be that all those hundreds of reindeer hides, salvaged from the submerged wreckage, were originally extracted as spoils from the Indigenous groups of the far North.
Sue Flood (British), Nenets reindeer herders at camp, Yamal-Nenets Autonomous Region, Yamal peninsula, n.d.
This story begins with the Russian conquest of Siberia, from 1580 to 1778. A major motivation for the incursion was the collection of hides: sable, fox, beaver, marten, and reindeer skins, gathered by confiscation, barter, or an annual fur tax, known as Yasak. These furs, as well as leather, were collected in fortified zimov’es, or winter camps, that eventually developed into larger settlements. At the time of the sinking of the Metta Catharina, the resources extracted from the Indigenous populations amounted to fully one-third of the Russian Empire’s wealth.
Reindeer facilitated Indigenous wellbeing in many forms: food, garments, shelter and transportation. Nenets clothing, for example, is the result of centuries of migration and adaptation to arctic climate conditions. The thick guard hairs and dense underfur of the reindeer hides work together to prevent air movement and heat dissipation. In a study led by Michigan State University in 2020, researchers documented the insulation qualities of Chukchi reindeer clothing, which are superior to modern military-grade down equipment.
Cornelis de Bruyn (Dutch, 1652-1727), Samojeedse Man, 1714, Amsterdam, Netherlands, Copperplate print on laid paper, Rare Books Division, The New York Public Library, b11544489.
