Matrioska Matriosca Nesting Doll Russian Doll How to evaluate How much Value Evaluation Size Quality Rare Dimension - MatrioskaOnLine
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How to evaluate
How to recognize a nesting doll collector
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A Russian nesting doll may be a simple wooden toy bought on some
stall for a few euros , or a masterpiece
which is worth thousands of euros.
What makes the difference between them is not raw material because
both of them are made by carved wood, but their painting and crafting.
Like a painting, a sculpture or any other art object, is the
artist's imprint to make the difference.
Is bigger better ?
A frequent mistake
is to attribute a higher value to a larger nesting doll or a nesting doll
composed by a greater number of pieces.
Size is not important; using this parameter would mean
trying to judge a book for its big number pages or a movie by its length; for a
correct judgment we must look the artistic quality and the technical realization
of the painting on any
single doll.
We must evaluate the painting technique and the care and precision level of
details of the picture and the parts of each doll must fit together perfectly
without generating steps; it is also necessary to separate them without making efforts, but even without opening them unintentionally.
Regarding this, a useful advice is to always avoid to grab a nesting doll by its top because it may unintentionally
open while it is being raised, causing all the dolls
contained within to fall to the ground. A nesting doll is always to be taken
at its bottom and placed in the open palm of the other hand.
These two images come from two different Russian dolls, on which
are depicted horses. It's clear that the level of detail and precision obtained
by the artist in the first doll is significantly higher than the second one.
Small, medium, large
Another parameter to be considered is the painted area; in the
cheapest dolls, this surface can be
limited to the front thus leaving in the rear area exposed wood, or painted in
a uniform colours or with simple patterns.
In the most prestigious nesting dolls the painting can completely wrap every doll, and
this is certainly an added value because the artist's work has been more demanding and complex.
Fake !
There are nesting dolls that, if seen in pictures, look like beautiful pieces of art with extremely detailed
paintings, precise and rich brushwork, saturated colors and this important
feature remains in the smaller ones known as the most difficult to paint by the
artist.
Unfortunately it can happen that these "masterpieces"
are false paintings because the nesting doll was printed and not painted, or in
the worst case are decals sticked on the wood.
Being able to touch the doll you can become aware of the deceit,
especially in the second case because by touching it it’s possible to detect
the thickness of the infinitesimal decal; unfortunately, if the doll is purchased on the internet or made by
people not particularly expert it can be easy to be led into this error.
The price may be a good clue; quality nesting dolls sold for a few
tens of euros, cannot be a good deal.
This is a high enlargement of the details of a nesting doll made with decals. It has a thin
vinyl film that adheres perfectly even on curved surfaces and it is hidden by
painting the edges to camouflage the detachment of thickness and the sharpness
of the edge between the film and the wood.
The final lacquering adds a covering layer that makes the surface
homogeneous and almost without steps.
This nesting doll was made very well and the film was visible only by examining the piece with a magnifying glass.
These are two examples of not hand-painted dolls. The first,
showing sacred figures, looks beautifully crafted with details and nuances that
only skilled artists would be able to play, but in reality it has a vinyl
decals applied on the wood. The second nesting dolls was painted by a printing
machine.
