Russian Folk Costume Dolls

Russian Nested dolls

Nested dolls or Matryoshka dolls are the contribution by Russian doll artists to the world.  These are set of wooden dolls,  which can be placed one inside the other.

Russian Matryoshka doll Picture Courtesy – Wikipedia

Nowadays these dolls are made by our Channapattana wooden toy makers too. I guess most of us had played with these kind of dolls during our childhood. You can read more about Russian Matryoshka dolls: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Matryoshka_doll

Russian folk costume dolls :

Another kind of dolls, made by the doll artists of Russia are Russian Folk costume dolls. These are made using porcelain or wood. And decorated with   Russian traditional costume named Sarafan(https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sarafan). The specialty of the dolls is, the costumes are also made using traditional cloths and laces. I have two Russian folk costume dolls in my collection of dolls :

Russian folk costume dolls

One is made of wood and another is porcelain. These are beautiful piece of  handicraft. In wooden doll, the face is made using wood and the facial features are drawn using paint.

Doll with Russian folk costume

The facial features are hand painted

Cute feature is , the hair is made of cotton threads and plaited.

Plaited hair made of thread

Another is made , using face made of porcelain. The facial features are handcrafted.

The face is made using porcelain

The facial features looks more realistic here:

The facial features

Plaited hair

Each doll shows the intricate work of the artists. And minute details of the folk costume is shown in the dolls.

Love, laugh and live the life to the fullest,

-Ranjana