This was the picture last Sunday ...
Now, the heads have all perked up and opened a little. The tulips still have those lovely rainbow colours that I so admired eight days ago. Underneath is a little late Christmas gift ... but the message of Peace is still as relevant now as it is on the nativity itself. To the other side lie a pair of earrings. It seems that, no matter where you look in this house, you'll find earrings!
These are tiny matryoshka [матрёшка] dolls bought in the Belfast Christmas market some time ago.
According to one source:
In 1890, the first Matryoshka doll was designed and painted by Sergey Malyutin and carved from wood by Vasily Zvyozdochkin. Malyutin and Zvyozdochkin were both Russian folk artists living under the patronage of the wealthy industrialist Savva Mamontov on the renowned Abramtsevo estate. Located north of Moscow, the Abramtsevo colony has continued to be a famous center for Slavic culture and folk art since the nineteenth century. Matryoshka dolls received global exposure in 1900 after Mamontov’s wife presented them at the Exposition Universelle world's fair in Paris where they won the bronze metal.
The concept of nesting is much older and was known in China and nesting boxes date from as far back as 1000 AD.
Typically a set of dolls is seven ... but in my 'real' set there are only six! I'd love to know how old they are ... they came from an auction twenty five years ago.
The outer one has faded considerably. I once saw a set in Greenwich with 30+ dolls ... but didn't have the money to buy it! Pity.
Just for the sake of completeness ... there is a set of owls here too. But just five of them ... and I don't think there's any significant history, judging by the sticker on the bottom!
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