MATRYOSHKA RUSSIAN NESTING BABUSHKA DOLLS 6" 8 PIECES HAND PAINTED PURPLE EUC

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WONDERFUL 6" VEILED ANGELIC FACED BEAUTY DRESSED IN PETALS, FLOWERS & LEAVES OF PURPLE, BLUE, GREEN & WHITE. 7 DAUGHTERS WAITING TO BE REVEALED INSIDE.*SEEMS TO BE MISSING THE 4TH & 7TH DOLL. SEE PIC.*HAND PAINTED IN RUSSIA WITH MAGNIFICENT DETAIL! VALUABLE COLLECTIBLE THAT WILL BECOME INCREASINGLY MORE VALUABLE OVER TIME. BEAUTIFUL TO GIVE AS A GIFT OR ADD TO COLLECTION...PERFECT CONDITION MATRYOSHKA HISTORY & DESIGN A matryoshka doll is a Russian nesting doll ( Russina : Матрёшка ) which is a set of wooden dolls of decreasing size placed one inside the other. The first Russian nested doll set was carved in 1890 by 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 dress . The figures inside may be of either gender; the smallest, innermost doll is typically a baby lathed from a single piece of wood. Much of the artistry is in the painting of each doll, which can be very elaborate. The dolls often follow a theme, aside from the typical traditional peasant girls, the themes vary, from fairy tale characters to Soviet leaders.A set of matryoshkas consists of a wooden figure which separates, 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 number of nested figures is traditionally at least five, but can be much more, up to several dozen with sufficiently fine craftsmanship. Modern dolls often yield an odd number of figures but this is not an absolute rule; the original Zvyozdochkin set, for instance, had an even number. The form is approximately cylindrical, with a rounded top for the head, tapering toward the bottom, with little or no protruding features; the dolls have no hands (except those that are painted). Traditionally the outer layer is a woman, dressed in a sarafan. The figures inside may be of either gender; the smallest, innermost doll is typically a baby lathed from a single small piece of wood (and hence non-opening). The arti1stry is in the painting of each doll, which can be extremely elaborate. The first Russian nested doll set was carved in 1890 by Vasily Zvyozdochkin from a design by Sergey Malyutin , who was a folk crafts painter in the Abramtsevo estate of the Russian industrialist and patron of arts Savva Mamontov . The doll set was painted by Malyutin. Malyutin's doll set consisted of eight dolls—the outermost was a girl holding a rooster wearing a traditional dress. The inner dolls were girls and a boy, and the innermost a baby. Zvyozdochkin and Malyutin were inspired by a doll from Honsu , the main island of Japan . Sources differ in descriptions of the doll, describing it as either a round, hollow daruma doll or a fukuruma nesting doll portraying portly bald old Buddhist monk. In 1900, Savva Mamontov's wife presented the dolls at the World Exhibition in Paris, and the toy earned a bronze medal. Soon after, matryoshka dolls were being made in several places in Russia. Since the 1990s matryoshka dolls have been facing a downward spiral in production. The production of matryoshkas is done by highly skilled craftsmen that have been passing down their skills generation to generation. With factories that produce matryoshkas shutting down there is a fear that these skill use to make matryoshka dolls maybe lost because there will be no one to pass the skill along to.SORRY... NO INTERNATIONAL SHIPPING. read more

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