The History of the Matryoshka

Matryoshkas are a relatively new Russian handicraft. The first one dates from 1890, and some say they were inspired by souvenir dolls from Japan. This is possibly true; however, the concept of nested objects was not unique to the souvenir dolls and already familiar in Russia, having been applied to carved wooden apples and Easter eggs.  In fact, the first Fabergé egg, in 1885, had a nesting of egg, yolk, hen, and chick. 

The legend goes that Sergei Maliutin, a painter from a folk crafts workshop in the Abramtsevoestate of a famous Russian industrialist and patron of arts Savva Mamontov, saw a set of Japanese wooden dolls representing 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. Duly inspired, Maliutin drew a sketch of a Russian version of the crafty toy. It was carved by Vasiliy Zvezdochkin in a toy workshop in Sergiyev Posadand painted by Sergei Maliutin. It consisted of eight dolls; the outermost was a girl in an apron and babooshka, then the dolls alternated between boy and girl, ending with the baby at the center.

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