Matryoshka dolls, also known as Russian nesting dolls, are a set of wooden dolls of decreasing size placed one inside another. The name matryoshka is derived from the Russian female first name Matryona, which means “little matron”. A set of matryoshkas consists of a wooden figure, which separates at the middle, top from bottom, to reveal a smaller figure of the same sort inside, which has, in turn, another figure inside of it, and so on. The first Russian nested doll set was made in 1890 by wood turning craftsman and wood carver Vasily Zvyozdochkin from a design by Sergey Malyutin, who was a folk crafts painter at Abramtsevo. Traditionally, the outer layer is a woman, dressed in a sarafan, a long and shapeless traditional Russian peasant jumper dress.
Your set of 5 Matryoshka dolls would make a wonderful addition to any collection or a unique gift for someone special.
