It looks a lot like paulting (raised designs in the leather rather than tooled which are indented)
You can see something similar in this old knife sheath of mine
Nice Sheath Red.
This process is called Cuir Boulilli where Veg Tanned leather is soaked in water and then subjected to heat around 50c or 122F for a given time.
Used for making certain pieces armour years ago, or other items that needed to be harder than normal.
At around 70c the leather starts to plasticise.
Having fun with the technique at the moment
