Matryoshka

Matryoshka is a Russian folding doll made of wood, inside of which are smaller dolls. They are used as souvenirs and children's educational toys.

Matryoshka (diminutive in the name of "Matryona") is a Russian wooden toy in the form of a painted doll, inside which there are similar smaller dolls. The number of nested dolls is usually from three or more. Almost always they have an ovoid (“egg-like”) shape with a flat bottom and consist of two parts - the upper and lower. By tradition, a woman is drawn in a red sundress and a yellow scarf. Themes for painting can be very different: from fairy-tale characters to political figures.

The story of the appearance of Russian nesting dolls began in the capital, in the studio "Children's Education", where dolls were made with the aim of demonstrating the clothes of the population of different parts of the country. The task of creating such toys was the promotion of domestic ethnography. Working in the studio, Sergei Malyutin, taking the Japanese Daruma doll as a basis in the form of spherical, brightly colored figures of the mythical old man nested in one another, he invented and made his own detachable doll. The master painted her like a peasant woman in a bright scarf.

Malyutin's Matryoshka was dressed in an embroidered shirt, sundress and white bib, and a scarf on her head. Another 8 figures were invested inside, on which female images alternated with male ones. The latter was made in the form of a swaddled baby. The master painted the first nesting doll with gouache paint. Now this product is in the Sergiev Posad Museum.

The name of the doll was given just like that. At the end of the 19th century, Matresha was the most common female name.

Types of Matryoshka Dolls

Gradually, several centers for the production of Russian dolls formed in Russia. At each enterprise, the craftsmen tried to give the toy recognizable features.

Semenovskaya matryoshka

The history of its appearance is inextricably linked with the ancient styles of art murals of the Nizhny Novgorod land. The emergence of the Semenov matryoshka occurred in 1929, when in the city of Semenov, Nizhny Novgorod Region, an artel for the production of wooden dolls was opened. It included several dozen homeworkers. On the basis of the artel, in 1932, the Semenovskaya List painting factory appeared, which still works.

Masters of the Nizhny Novgorod region created a nesting doll, painted based on the Khokhloma, Fedoseyev and Merin paintings. Semenovskaya matryoshka doll is painted bright, with black hair, a scarf on his head. Hands are usually not painted over. The apron is covered with burgundy and red roses, white daisies, blue forget-me-nots. The bouquet must have dark green leaves. The bottom is often painted yellow. The company also produces author's dolls with a more complex painting.

Zagorsk Matryoshka (Sergiev Posad)

Zagorsk nesting doll is a folk craft that arose on the territory of Sergiev Posad. In the middle of the last century, many workshops worked in the city. Now the traditional Russian nesting doll is made by the joint-stock company Artistic Products and Toys.

Zagorsk doll differs from the rest in simplified painting using red, yellow, green and blue colors. The contour of the face and clothes are surrounded by a black line or burned out. The clothes of Zagorsky nesting dolls are rather modest, small flowers are painted on the apron, without small details. Girls' hair color is mostly fair, but there may be brunettes. Hands are lowered down or bent - then the doll holds a balalaika, a fruit basket, some kind of pet or a rooster.

Tver Matryoshka

When performing Tver dolls, they use painting under Khokhloma with gold paints. Old Russian girls are depicted in festive robes with jewelry and gilded headdresses. The scarf is red, the apron is black with large pink flowers surrounded by green leaves.

The red-black combination is a recognizable feature of Tver nesting dolls. Many consider them the most beautiful. Thanks to careful turning and coloring features, these pupae glow like a painted Easter egg.

The most popular matryoshka dolls

Now in stores you can find dolls painted as fairy-tale characters, families. Modern nesting dolls are mostly copyrighted. Masters often turn to fabulous, literary, historical topics. The recent invention is portrait dolls painted by famous people.

The minimum number of dolls is 3. Exclusive nesting dolls can accommodate up to 50 inserts. The most popular are 5 and 7 subject items.

The history of the nesting dolls for children began a little more than 100 years ago, but during this short period the toy practically did not change. Bright, festive, she became one of the symbols of Russia.

How to pronounce matryoshka

muh·tree·owsh·kuh

The modern pronunciation is (Maa-Trio-Sh-Ka).

What does matryoshka mean

Wooden nesting doll or babushka doll.

What is matryoshka

Matryoshka dolls, also known as Babushka dolls, stacking dolls, nesting dolls, Russian tea dolls, or Russian dolls, are a set of wooden dolls of decreasing size placed one inside another. The name matryoshka, literally "little matron", is a diminutive form of Russian female first name "Matryona" or "Matryosha". Wikipedia