The very beginning of russian matrioshka

The first russian matrioshkas (nesting dolls) appeared in 1890 in the workshop "Children's Education" situated in Abramtsevo, the estate of new Moscow. The owner of Abramtsevo was Sava Mamontov - an industrialist and a patron of the arts.

The end of the 19th century in Russia was a time of great economic and cultural development. Mamontov was one of the first who patronized artists who were possessed by the idea of the creation of a new Russian style. Many famous Russian artists worked along with folk craftsmen in Mamontov's workshops.

Once at a tradition Saturday meeting somebody brought a funny Japanese figurine of a good-nature bold head old man Fukuruma. The doll consisted of some other figurines nestled one another. It had 7 figurines. There was a legend that the first doll of such type on Island Honshu where Fukuruma was brought from was made by unknown Russian monk.

Really, this type of nesting toys was well known before - Russian crafters turned wooden Easter eggs, apples.

The story behind the name

Matrioshkas are russian wooden dolls with smaller dolls stacked within the bigger ones.In provincial Russia before the revolution in 1917 the name Matriona or Matriosha was a very popular female name. It was derived from the Latin root 'mater' which means 'mother'. This name was associated with the image of a mother of a big family who was very healthy and had a portly figure. Subsequently, it became a symbolic name and was used specially to describe brightly painted wooden dolls made in such a way that they could be taken apart to reveal smaller dolls fitting inside one another.

Even now nesting doll is considered to be a symbol of motherhood and fertility. A mother doll with numerous dolls-children perfectly expresses the oldest symbol of human culture.

The first russian nesting doll turned by Vassily Zviozdochkin and painted by Sergey Maliutin contained 8 pieces: a girl with a black rooster was followed by a boy and then by a girl again and so on. All figurines were different from each other; the last one was a figurine of a baby wrapped in diaper. 

Nesting Doll Making

It was quite easy for russian craftsmen who had had a considerable experience in turning wooden objects which fitted inside each other (for example, Easter eggs) to work out the nesting doll making technology.

The basic technique of nesting doll making remains unchanged. As a rule nesting dolls are made from lime, birch, alder and aspen. Lime is the most abundant material. The trees chosen to manufacture nesting dolls are cut down at the beginning of Spring, usually in April when the trees are full of sap. The felled trees are stripped of their bark leaving a few rings to prevent the wood from cracking. The logs prepared in this way with their butt-ends smeared over are arranged in piles with a clearance between them to allow aeration.

The logs are kept in the open air for two years. Only an experienced master can tell when the material is ready. Then the logs are cut into workpieces for nesting dolls. Every workpiece can be turned as many as 15 times before the nesting doll will be ready. Making a doll on a turning lathe requires high skills, an ability to work with a beguilingly small set of tools - a knife and chisels of various length and shape. The smallest figurine which cannot be taken apart is usually made first. The bottom part of the next figurine which can be taken apart is turned first. Then a workpiece is turned to reach the necessary size and the top end is removed. Then the ring is made to fit on the upper part of the nesting doll and then its lower part can be made. Then the nesting doll's head is turned and the necessary amount of wood is removed from within the nesting doll's head to slip on the upper ring. All these operations do not involve any measurements, and rely only on intuition and require high professional skills.

The upper part of the nesting doll is stuck on to its lower part. Then it dries and tightens the ring so it sits securely in place. When the turning work is over, a snow white doll is thoroughly cleaned, primed with starchy glue to make the surface ideally smooth and to prevent the paint making smudges and then dried. Now it is ready to be painted.