Russian nesting doll.

Matryoshka is considered a Russian souvenir, which foreigners try to bring from Russia.
Nested dolls are fun to play with children, matryoshkas are an ornament for interiors. But it turns out that Russian nesting dolls have no Russian roots. There is still no reliable information from where the matryoshka came from, there are a lot of myths and legends about its origin.
But most researchers are inclined to this
The prototype of the Russian matryoshka was the figure of the Japanese god, who, like the matryoshka, moved apart, representing itself, a container for a smaller figure.
The Japanese model, executed with great humor, was a set of figures of the Japanese sage Fukurum inserted into each other - a bald old man with his head stretched up from numerous meditations. The author of the matryoshka was the turner Mikhail Zvezdochkin, and painted the first matryoshka in the image of a peasant girl, soon baptized by the people a common name Matryoshka (Matryona), artist Sergei Malyutin.
Matryoshka immediately gained an unprecedented recognition as a symbol of Russian folk art. Mats began to spread quickly across Russia, each gubernia considered it their duty to "dress" a matryoshka in accordance with local traditions. Sometimes the matryoshka dress did not change only, but its shape - the doll became either ball-shaped or elongated . The question of where to buy a matryoshka doll did not arise any more, where there was a developed national craft, there were necessarily matryoshkas.
Now it's hard to imagine that two centuries ago such a toy was not in Russia. The peak popularity of matryoshka fell on the early 60-ies of the twentieth century, when foreigners began to come to the Soviet Union to participate in festivals and studies. They all tried to buy Russian nesting dolls in memory of Russia. Why is it matryoshka dolls, not, say, handkerchiefs or caskets ?
Most likely, the reason for the popularity of souvenir nesting dolls was that it was the personification of Russia itself with its broad soul, colorful dresses and large families.
A classic Russian nesting doll consists of five or seven dolls, the smallest of which is a child. Made a Russian souvenir nesting doll made of oak or alder, covered with a lime solution, which prevents drying out, and varnish. They paint matryoshkas with gouache or do not paint at all, but burn out a drawing, so it is artful that at first glance you will not understand that there is no paint on the matryoshka.