Not sure what "canonical" means in this context. Half of algebraic geometry is called "canonical ring" or "fundamental class" or some other vacuous term. Please consider Elkies [The Klein Quartic in Number Theory](http://library.msri.org/books/Book35/files/elkies.pdf) and in general the book **The Eightfold Way** is online. In the translation of [Klein](http://library.msri.org/books/Book35/files/klein.pdf)'s original work we find this futuristic image: [![enter image description here][1]][1] Also in [German](https://eudml.org/journal/10142). The translated version has improved images --- I have no idea what the above really means, but it sounds like we get really lucky. These results are due to Riemann -- long before Serre, Grothendieck, Hartshorne or Shafarevich. How could he have anything more complex in mind? Since $x, y, z$ are the coordinates of an equation $x^3 y + y^3 z + z^3 x = 0$, then $x, y, z$ can be thought of as parameterizing solutions to the set $$\{x^3 y + y^3 z + z^3 x = 0\}$$ So the coordinate ring might be the coordinate ring of $\mathbb{P}^N$ mod a single relation: $$ \mathbb{C}[x,y,z]/(x^3 y + y^3 z + z^3 x ) $$ In fact, $x, y, z$ are **sections** of the line bundle $\mathcal{O}_X$ and if $i+j+k = n$ then maybe we can multiply them to get sections of the other sheafs: $$ x^i y^j z^k \in H^0(X, n \mathcal{O}_X)$$ Looks like the coordinate ring is the direct sum of all of these possibilities excepting for the possibility that $x^3 y + y^3z + z^3 x = 0$. The only ring mention in Klein's paper is $\mathbb{C}[x,y,z]/(x^3y + y^3z+z^3x)$ -- the one David Speyer wrote -- as well as $SL(2, \mathbb{F}_7)$ and $\mathbb{Z}(\frac{1 + \sqrt{-7}}{2})$. Which one is the canonical ring? --- Resources include [Birational Geometry Old and New](http://www.ams.org/journals/bull/2009-46-01/S0273-0979-08-01233-0/home.html) (Antonella Grassi): > **Example-Theorem 29**: If $C$ is a curve of genus $g \geq 2$ the divisor $3 K_C$ is *very ample*. There is an embedding $\phi: C \to \mathbb{P}^N$ such that if $H$ is a hyperplane $H \cdot C = 3K_C$. Then the canonical ring $R(C, K_C)$ can be reconstructed from the coordinate ring of $\mathbb{P}^N$. In particular, $R$ is finitely generated. In fact $3K_C$ determines a *pluricanonical embedding*. Grassi, in turn cites the standard texts: * Hartshorne **Algebraic Geometry** * Shafarevich **Basic Algebraic Geometry** [1]: https://i.sstatic.net/DRigf.png