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Matryoshka doll

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Matryoshka disassembled

A matryoshka doll (Russian: матрёшка, Template:IPARus) or a Russian nested doll (also called a stacking doll or Babooshka doll) is a set of dolls of decreasing sizes placed one inside another. "Matryoshka" is a derivative of the Russian female first name "Matryona", which is traditionally associated with a fat, robust, batul Russian woman.

A set of matryoshkas consists of a wooden figure which can be pulled apart to reveal another figure of the same sort inside. It has, in turn, another figure inside, and so on. The number of nested figures is usually five or more. The shape is mostly cylindrical, rounded at the top for the head and tapered towards the bottom, but little else; the dolls have no hands (except those that are painted). Traditionally the outer layer is a woman, dressed in a sarafan, holding a rooster. Inside, it contains other figures that may be of both genders, usually ending in a baby that does not open. The artistry is in the painting of each doll, which can be extremely elaborate.

Matryoshkas are often designed to follow a particular theme, for instance peasant girls in traditional dress, but the theme can be anything, from fairy tale characters to Soviet leaders.

History

Modern Japanese nested dolls

Matryoshkas are a relatively new Russian handicraft; the first one dates from 1890, and is said to have been inspired by souvenir dolls from Japan. However, the concept of nested objects was familiar in Russia, having been applied to carved wooden apples and Easter eggs; the first Fabergé egg, in 1885, had a nesting of egg, yolk, hen, and crown.

The story goes that Sergei Maliutin, a painter from a folk crafts workshop in the Abramtsevo estate of a famous Russian industrialist and patron of arts Savva Mamontov, saw a set of Japanese wooden dolls representing Shichi-fuku-jin, the Seven Gods of Fortune. The largest doll was that of Fukurokuju - a happy, bald god with an unusually long chin - and within it nested the six remaining deities. Inspired, Maliutin drew a sketch of a Russian version of the toy. It was carved by Vasiliy Zvezdochkin in a toy workshop in Sergiyev Posad and painted by Sergei Maliutin. It consisted of eight dolls; the outermost was a girl in an apron, then the dolls alternated between boy and girl, with the innermost – a baby.

In 1900, M.A. Mamontova, the wife of Savva Mamontov, presented the dolls at the World Exhibition in Paris and the toy earned a bronze medal. Soon, many other places in Russia started making matryoshki of various styles.

During Perestroika, matryoshkas featuring the leaders of the Soviet Union became a common variety. Starting with the largest, Mikhail Gorbachev, then Leonid Brezhnev (Yuri Andropov and Konstantin Chernenko almost never appear due to the short length of their respective terms), then Nikita Khrushchev, Josef Stalin and finally the smallest, Vladimir Lenin. Newer versions start with Vladimir Putin and then follows with Boris Yeltsin, Mikhail Gorbachev, Joseph Stalin and then Vladimir Lenin.

Modern artists create many new styles of nesting dolls. The most common themes feature animal collections, portraits and caricatures of famous politicians, musicians, popular movie stars. The matryoshka dolls that feature communist leaders of Russia became very popular among Russian people in the early 90's, after collapse of Soviet Union. Today, many talented Russian artists specialize in painting themed matryoshka dolls that feature specific category of subjects, people or nature.

A doll which represents an old woman is often called a baboushka or babushka, that which represents an old man a dedoushka or dedushka.

There are several areas with notable matryoshka styles; Sergiyev Posad, Semionovo (currently town of Semyonov), Polkholvsky Maidan, and Kirov.

Matryoshka metaphor

Matryoshkas are also used metaphorically, as a design paradigm, known as the "matryoshka principle" or "nested doll principle". It denotes a recognizable relationship of "similar object-within-similar object" that appears in the design of many other natural and man-made objects. An example is the Matryoshka brain.

The onion metaphor is of similar character. If you peel the outer layer off an onion, a similar onion exists within the outer layer. This structure is employed by designers in applications such as the layering of clothes or the design of tables, where a smaller table sits within a larger table and a yet-smaller one within that. See also onion routing.

  • The Higglytown Heroes characters are living matryoshkas.
  • Matryoshki appear during the credits sequence of John le Carre's television miniseries Tinker, Tailor, Soldier, Spy, showing the successive appearance of four dolls, with the fourth doll having no face. In this case, we have a visual cue with the dolls for Russia (as the plot involves Soviet espionage), as well as with the final doll for the unknown mole, a spy who's buried in the deepest.
  • An episode of The Amazing Race included the players looking for clues hidden among several thousand matryoshkas.
  • Australian composer Julian Cochran wrote a Russian inspired composition titled 'Wooden Dolls' about a group of Matryoshkas communicating.
  • The couch gag for the season nine Simpsons episode Lisa's Sax has Homer as the outer shell of a matryoshka doll with Marge, Bart, Lisa, and Maggie as the inner shells.
  • In the video game Shin Megami Tensei: Devil Summoner: Raidou Kuzunoha vs. The Soulless Army, Grigori Rasputin (who serves as one of the game's chief antagonists) confines demons within matryoshkas.
  • In both Toy Story movies, Andy has a Matryoshka doll shaped like a dog.
  • In the Zelda game Twilight Princess the first phase of the boss Blizzeta is a giant ice Matryoshka.
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