<P> A set of matryoshkas consists of a wooden figure which separates, top from bottom, to reveal a smaller figure of the same sort inside, which has, in turn, another figure inside of it, and so on . </P> <P> The first Russian nested doll set was made in 1890 by Vasily Zvyozdochkin from a design by Sergey Malyutin, who was a folk crafts painter at Abramtsevo . Traditionally the outer layer is a woman, dressed in a sarafan, a long and shapeless traditional Russian peasant jumper dress . The figures inside may be of either gender; the smallest, innermost doll is typically a baby turned from a single piece of wood . Much of the artistry is in the painting of each doll, which can be very elaborate . The dolls often follow a theme; the themes may vary, from fairy tale characters to Soviet leaders . In the west, Matryoshka dolls are often mistakenly referred to as "babushka dolls", babushka meaning "grandmother" or "old woman". </P> <P> The first Russian nested doll set was carved in 1890 by Vasily Zvyozdochkin and designed by Sergey Malyutin, who was a folk crafts painter in the Abramtsevo estate of Savva Mamontov, a Russian industrialist and patron of arts . The doll set was painted by Malyutin . Malyutin's doll set consisted of eight dolls--the outermost was a girl in a traditional dress holding a rooster . The inner dolls were girls and a boy, and the innermost a baby . </P> <P> Zvyozdochkin and Malyutin were inspired by a doll from Honshu, the main island of Japan . Sources differ in descriptions of the doll, describing it as either a round, hollow daruma doll, portraying a bald old Buddhist monk, or a Seven Lucky Gods nesting doll . </P>

What is the significance of russian nesting dolls