Viatka "Shawl" Matryoshka [Vintage]

Product Description

Viatka "Shawl" Enhanced (Вятка "Шаль" Улучшенная). Why enhanced? We invite you to learn more about it below. Of the several (over 800) hundred 7 nested sets that passed through our shop, we can remember only one that had, not one, but two pieces, that were painted with a fringed shawl, giving the matryoshka "one-of-a-kind" status. In about fine condition, no cracks or major signs of wear. 2nd piece has a small manufacturing blemish in the lacquer over the left eyebrow. 5" down to 1". USSR paper label on the bottom. 1 only. 

The largest percentage of Viatka dolls, in our many years of experience, found little to no deviation from established standards of production. Almost every nesting doll had a red shawl around orange hair, a yellow body (and less often, a purple body), and "fingerprint swirls" in a variety of configurations. The first four dolls had faces, the last three dots for eyes and mouth.

Seldom found, however, were sets that did deviate from the norm. Sometimes the differences were obvious, and sometimes they were hidden, and harder to coax out. In a world of conformity and standardization, a set such as this one could mean a "silent cry for expression". Today expression is fundamental to normative Russian existence. It's easy to forget how "hot-housed" the norm for folk art was 50 years ago, which ended, more or less in 1991, and left in its wake, these archeological showpieces.

Read about the history of Kirov dolls Here