Matryoshka

The weather broke today. It has been raining off and on all day, not very heavily, but very wet, just what the garden needed or so I keep telling myself!
I took myself out and about, dropped some more stuff off at a couple of charity shops and only bought one thing. That's good isn't it? This beautiful 10 piece Matryoshka (Mother) doll, hand painted in beautiful jewelled shades and lacquered cost me £2. "It's warped and stuck together", the lady in the shop said, "we can't get it apart". I managed. I then very lightly sanded down the sticking bits, put some wax polish on them and it now opens beautifully. The smallest doll, which doesn't open, is about the size of two grains of rice. I've put a 5p piece beside it for scale. It's a real work of art. I'll put it in my cupboard next to the beautiful painted lacquer Russian boxes which I have collected over the years.
I love Russian lacquer work. The boxes were made, in the past, in just four villages in Russia. They were made originally by those who did icon painting which of course was forbidden after the revoltion when religious art was banned during the communist era. The boxes are painted by hand with detailed miniatures, using magnifying glasses and ultra fine brushes. The best use real gold and precious stones. They are finished with tempura as are icons. They are absolutely stunning. The boxes are hand made paper mâché which is painted and lacquered , the miniature paintings have several themes - religious scenes, flowers, folk life, fairy tales. The best boxes are signed and numbered and have the names of the village and the artist on them. I don't think any of mine are particularly special, except to me.
The matryoshka dolls are made of wood, as they have to be turned very carefully before being hand painted. They too are made to different grades and standards. I think that lovely as she is, my doll is probably pretty basic and made for the tourist market which makes her none the less beautiful or special. She's come a very long way to end up in a charity shop and still has her little Russian paper label on her. I think she is probably made of the traditional wood which is linden, or lime.

Keep safe everybody, it's strange being out and about and seeing the two contrasting groups, the cautious masked and those who don't bother.