RUSSIAN SERGIEV POSAD MATRYOSHKA

In provincial Russia before the revolution the name Matryona or Matriyosha was a very popular female name. It was derived from the Latin root 'mater' which means 'mother'. This name was associated with the image of a mother of a big family who was very healthy and had a portly figure. Subsequently, it became a symbolic name and was used specially to describe brightly painted wooden dolls made in such a way that they could be taken apart to reveal smaller dolls fitting inside on another.

The first nesting dolls of Sergiev Posad portrayed this special beauty: young girls dressed in Russian sarafans carrying baskets, scythes, bunches of flowers or dressed in winter short fur coats and scarves. This particular matryoshka is an exclusive example of a Sergiev Posad style married with a highly professional portrait painting.