Russian Matryoshka Nesting Dolls
They're known by many names - matryoshka dolls, Russian nesting dolls, babushka dolls, matrioshka, matroshka, matreshka, matryushka and stacking dolls - but whatever you call them, Russian nesting dolls are a popular Russian folk art today. But, surprisingly, the first nesting doll was not made in Russia, but in Japan.
Sergei Maliutin is credited with bringing the craft to Russia. He was inspired to create the first Russian nesting doll after seeing a Japanese doll representing the Seven Gods of Fortune. He sketched the design for the first Russian nesting doll, and it was carved by Vasliliy Zvezdochkin and then painted by Maliutin. The toy consisted of eight dolls - the largest, outside doll was a girl in an apron, and the inner dolls alternated between boy and girl and had a baby for the innermost doll.
In 1900, Maliutin's dolls won a bronze mdeal at the World Exhibition in Paris and soon many other places in Russia started making nesting dolls. Today matyroshka dolls are created in hundreds of designs. Traditional designs still depict girls in peasant dresses, while more modern designs include everything from Disney nesting dolls to endangered species dolls to Russian leader nesting dolls.
