Unique Authentic Russian Hand Painted Floral Nesting Dolls Set of 7 Pcs Matryoshkas This set includes 7 handcrafted and hand painted dolls The size of the biggest doll is 9" tall Made from real Linden Wood. Non Toxic. WARNING * Choking hazard * Not recommended for children under 3 as small items inside HISTORY: Matryoshkas date from 1890. The story goes that Sergei Maliutin, a painter from a folk crafts workshop in the Abramtsevo estate of a famous Russian industrialist and patron of arts Savva Mamontov, saw a set of Japanese wooden dolls representing Shichi-fuku-jin, the Seven Gods of Fortune. Inspired, Maliutin drew a sketch of a Russian version of the toy. It was carved by Vasiliy Zvezdochkin in a toy workshop in Sergiyev Posad and painted by Sergei Maliutin. It consisted of eight dolls; the outermost was a girl in an apron, then the dolls alternated between boy and girl, with the innermost ? a baby. In 1900, M.A. Mamontova, the wife of Savva Mamontov, presented the dolls at t