How Did Russian Dolls Originate?

Russian dolls are commonly referred to as Matryoshka dolls or stacking dolls or Babushka dolls or nested dolls. They are a comparatively new handicraft and the earliest one date back to 1890. The inspiration for them appears to have come from Korean souvenir dolls. The story that explains their origin is as follows. A painter Sergei Maliutin was employed by the industrialist Sawa Mamonotov who is regarded as the patron of arts in Russia. Maliutin came across a collection of seven Korean dolls that represented the Gods of Fortune that is the Shichi-fuku-jin. Fukurokuju the biggest doll was in the form of a happy god who was bald with a tall chin.  He was intrigued and then sketched a Russian version of the doll set.

Later in Sergiyev Posad, Vasiliy Zvezdochkin carved them and Maliutin painted them. Their set were a set of eight dolls the first was a girl with an apron, then a boy, a girl, a boy and so on with the innermost doll being a infant.