Treasures in the Tree

History of Nesting Dolls

Russian Nesting Dolls for Sale!

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.  The doll set was painted by Malyutin and consisted of eight dolls—the outermost was a girl in a traditional dress holding a rooster. The inner dolls were girls and a boy, and the innermost a baby.  A photo of this doll is shown.

Zvyozdochkin and Malyutin were inspired by a doll from Honshu, 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.

The doll was presented at the Exposition Universelle (1900) in Paris, where the toy earned a bronze medal.  Soon after, matryoshka dolls were being made in several places in Russia and shipped around the world.

Matryoshka Dolls

The word "matryoshka" literally "little matron", is a diminutive form of the Russian female first name "Matryona”