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The widely-held view that Matryoshka are an ancient native Russian toy is sadly just a myth. The first Russian
Matryoshka was carved out and painted in a Moscow toy workshop only in the 1890s, based on a model brought in from Japan.
This Japanese model, created with a great deal of humor, was made up of a large number of figures which fit inside each other depicting the
Japanese sage Fukuruma: a balding old man with his head tilted backwards due to frequent contemplations. The first Russian matryoshka
was made up of a group of children: eight dolls depicted children of different ages, going from the eldest girl with a cockerel to a baby
wrapped in swaddling clothes.
Although the first matryoshki which were issued by the cooperative “Children’s upbringing” were aimed at children, they were expensive and
were in greater demand among adults. At the end of the 19th century there was a genuine matryoshka boom. Manufacturers appeared in
reply to the unexpected demand. Within several years practically the whole of Sergiev Posad was (and
is) decorating matryoshki. It was there that a large amount of experienced craftsmen accumulated, along with excellent material: birch and lime. They were and are decorated both by old people and children in family workshops. And nowadays, since 1992,
handcraft Matreshka manufacturing and international trade is organized also by OOO Matryona, an Artist Collective, headed by the Kokonovs working from Khotkovo
(Sergiev Posad region).
On the whole Russian matryoshki depicted girls and women, in Russian pinafores and head scarves, carrying a basket, flowers, bread and salt. Russian matryoshki proved
to be popular abroad, especially in France and Germany, and at the start of the 20th century matryoshki began to be exported to other countries in mass quantities. Matrioshkas are carrying also a large number of folk and fairy tales, fine painted, whereas the storyboard are the nesting children. Tales and
painting style are based on ancient rules and compositions as provided by the elder since centuries and now since some 100 years also used for
Russian nesting dolls.
The business in matryoshki turned out to be so profitable that soon several centres of matryoshka production appeared, in the town of Semenov in Nizhegorod gubernia and
in the village of Polkhov-Maydan. Furthermore, it was at that time that the first foreign forgeries began to appear. Several German firms carved and painted matryoshki, passing them off as Russian. Not to forget the Matreshka production Center Sergiev Posad, from were since 1992 (OOO Matryona) original Russian handcrafted Matryoshkas are exported all over the
world.
In spite of the fact that you can come across matryoshki in unexpected shapes, such as spherical or cone-shaped, in the form of caskets or bottle_holders, the most popular
matryoshki have been and still remain figures imitating the female body. Sergiev dolls are as a rule denser and stockier than Semenov ones. Apart from the matryoshki depicting Russian women and girls which
are popular abroad, workshops began to issue historical (Kutuzov, Napoleon) and literary matryoshki. Matryoshka (Matreshka) style bottle holders or bottle covers are mostly - depending on its form or/and design - patented by Vladimir S. Kokonov of Art Studio Kokonov.
And the utmost exclusive and filligrane painted matreshkas are coming certainly from Sergiev Posad and its region....
As far as the number of parts is concerned, the most common and now most popular is the five-figure matryoshka. However, one can often come across matryoshki with three,
seven, ten and fifteen figures. The latter is incidentally not the limit. In 1913 a 48-piece matryoshka was carved. Admittedly this kind
of doll is extremely rare, the craftsman needs to be extremely skilled in order to produce it, and therefore mass production of these matryoshki is impossible.
Here at Sergiev Posad you will find also (patented by V. S. KOKONOV) 50 figures Matryoshkas, all held and on display at OOO Matryona!.
Just as a century ago, in Sergiev Posad and Semenov now whole families are involved in decorating the dolls. Factory matryoshki, also produced there, prove to be non-competitive and too expensive.
000 Matryona is known for its very competitive prices, its very fine productions, and non-toxic materials and paints. Incidentally, modern
matryoshki are much less toxic than they were in Soviet times, when they used aniline paints, they tend to paint the dolls nowadays in gouache. There are
some unpainted models, but it is almost impossible to understand what they are at first glance.
Painting your own matryoshka is a difficult, painstaking but gratifying task. Even if you strive just to copy an existing figure, it will inevitably turn out differently, it will be your own unique doll.
By the way, OOO Matryona organizes workshops where you can learn how to create and style your own personal Matreshka.
Source: Rustoys
Translated by James Platt
Admen by 000 Matryona, Khotkovo, Sergiev Posad region.
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