Overview
Matryoshka dolls are Russian dolls and they are also known as Russian tea dolls or stacking dolls. These dolls are made from wood and are stacked one on top of the other. Matroyshka translates as ‘little matron’.
Wooden figures
Matroyshka dolls are a set of wooden figures which are divided from the centre and you can find another smaller figure from the same Matroyshka set, as well as another smaller figure inside that figure, and yet another figure inside that figure. Each set will have several dolls.
The figures inside can be male or female, and the smallest or innermost doll seems to be the baby of the Matroyshka set.
A variety of styles
The Matryoshka dolls have a variety of styles or paintings that are gorgeous and vibrant. These Matryoshka dolls have a concept, ranging from fairytale characters to Soviet leaders and family members.
Vasily Zvyozdochkin, a wood turning craftsman and a wood carver, invented the first stacking doll set in 1890.
Babushka dolls
Matroyshka dolls are known as Babushka dolls in the West, which means ‘grandmother or ‘old woman.’
In 1890, the first nested dolls were invented. They were crafted by Sergey Malyutin and carved by Vasily Zvyozdochkin at the Children's Education Workshop, which was created to sell children's toys. Sergey Malyutin was a folklore artist.
His set of dolls had eight members, including a mother in traditional dress holding a red-combed rooster on the outermost doll. The children are the set's inner dolls; there are two girls and a boy, as well as a baby.
Sergiyev Posad
Savva Momontov's brother, Anatoly Ivanovich Mamontov, founded the Children's Education Workshop. (Savva Momontova is a Russian industrialist and patron of the arts.) The workshop was closed in the late 1890s, but the tradition of Matryoshka dolls simply moved to Sergiyev Posad, a Russian town known as a toy-making centre since the 14th century.
It was assumed that Zvyozdochkin and Malyutin had been inspired by Asian culture and dolls such as the Honshu doll, but Honshu dolls cannot be positioned inside each other.
These dolls, designed by Vasily Zvyozdochkin and Sergey Malyutin, were displayed by Savva Momontov's wife at the Exposition Universelle in Paris in 1900, where the toy received a bronze media award. Following their achievement, they started exporting these dolls around the world.
Matroyshka doll production
It is believed that linden wood was used to create Matryoshka dolls. It's a common myth that they are all carved from the same piece of wood. Making a Matroyshka doll involves four steps:
1. Log harvesting
2. Turning wood
3. Matryoshka's painting
4. Painting with lacquer or
varnish
These dolls must be made by extremely talented artisans. The only instruments utilised in the doll-making process are chisels and knives.
Matryoshka doll themes
A specific theme is followed in the creation of Matroyshka dolls. Themes in Matroyshka dolls were traditionally depicted as Soviet fairytale figures but since the 20th century's end, they have expanded to include a wider spectrum, including Russian officials.
Matroyshka dolls frequently have themes like floral motifs as well as religious ones like Christmas and Easter. The designers of the 20th century introduced novel concepts such as animal collections, portraits and parodies of famous actors, musicians, politicians, athletes, astronauts, and ‘robots’. Painting themed Matryoshka dolls with a focus on particular types of objects, people, or nature is a skill of some Russian painters.
Matroyshka dolls in politics
During the Perestroika (the literal meaning of Perestroika is ‘reconstruction’) in the late 1980s and early 1990s, leaders of the Soviet Union became a common theme of the Matryoshka, with the largest doll featuring the then-current leader, Mikhail Gorbachev (he was a Russian and Soviet politician who served as the last leader of the Soviet Union). These political Matryoshkas were very popular at the time.
Following this, more people began to appear, which included Russian Presidents Boris Yeltsin, Vladimir Putin and Dmitry Medvedev, among others.
Many Matroyshka sets feature the current leader as the biggest doll, with smaller dolls featuring other former leaders such as Nikita Khrushchev (the First Secretary of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union). Some less popular sets may include the current leader as the smallest doll, but this is uncommon.
Political Matryoshkas generally have five to ten dolls per collection.
World record of Matroyshka dolls
The largest set of Matroyshka dolls was introduced in 2003, with a 51-piece (51-member) set hand painted by Youlia Bereznitskaia of Russia. The tallest doll in the set is 53.97 centimetres tall, while the smallest doll is 0.31 centimetres tall. The total length of the set's dolls is 3.41 metres.
Matroyshka dolls as a metaphor
Matryoshka dolls are a traditional depiction of a mother carrying a child within her womb, and can be seen as a chain of mothers carrying on the blood line through the child in their womb.
The Matryoshka is frequently viewed as a representation of Russian culture's feminine side. In Russia, the Matryoshka is connected with family and fertility. The symbol of the moniker "Mother Russia" is the Matryoshka doll.
Siyathee Ekanayake
Grade 9
Vidura College
Colombo