Thursday, December 30, 2021
Don't think I've displayed my nesting Santas for a couple of years and it's been even longer since I've opened them up.
This one I have a hard time recalling where I got it although I think it may have been at the old Bibelot Shop.
The nesting dolls upon which these are based are Russian in origin and are called Matryoshka. The following is from Wikipedia: "A set of matryoshkas consists of a wooden figure, which separates at the middle, top from bottom, to reveal a smaller figure of the same sort inside, which has, in turn, another figure inside of it, and so on."
Also from Wikipedia: "The first Russian nested doll set was made in 1890 by wood turning craftsman and wood carver Vasily Zvyozdochkin from a design by Sergey Malyutin, who was a folk crafts painter at Abramtsevo. Traditionally the outer layer is a woman, dressed in a sarafan, a long and shapeless traditional Russian peasant jumper dress. The figures inside may be of any gender; the smallest, innermost doll is typically a baby turned from a single piece of wood. Much of the artistry is in the painting of each doll, which can be very elaborate. The dolls often follow a theme; the themes may vary, from fairy tale characters to Soviet leaders. In the west, matryoshka dolls are often referred to as babushka dolls, babushka meaning "grandmother" or "old woman"." [Note: The above two photos are from Wikipedia.]
Recently I heard that the Unicode Consortium approved a Russian doll emoji in 2020. I typed in "nesting doll" in a text message to Dale and what you see in the above screenshot is what I got.
Type in Matryoshka and you'll get the same thing.
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