Dolls, also known as Russian nested dolls, stacked dolls or Russian dolls, are a group of wooden dolls that are gradually reduced in size and placed together. The name "matrioshka" (матрёшка), which literally means "little mother and child", is the abbreviation of Russian female name "matriona" (Матрна) or "matriosha".

A set of matryoshkas consists of a wooden figure, which is opened from the top to the bottom to show the same type of smaller figure inside, another figure inside, and so on.

The first set of nested dolls in Russia was designed and produced by Vasily zvyozdochkin in 1890 according to Sergey malyutin, a former folk craftsman of abramtsevo. Traditionally, the outer layer is a woman wearing sarafan (a long, shapeless traditional Russian peasant Pullover dress). The numbers may be gender or gender. The smallest and innermost doll is usually a baby made of a piece of wood.

Russian dolls are usually designed according to specific themes. For example, peasant girls in traditional clothes. At first, the themes were usually inspired by traditional or fairy tale characters to conform to the tradition of handicrafts, but since the end of the 20th century, the themes have covered a wider range, including Russian leaders.

Modern artists have created many new dolls. Common themes include flowers, Christmas, Easter, religion, animal collection, portraits and comics of famous politicians, musicians, athletes, astronauts, "robots" and famous movie stars. Nowadays, some Russian artists specialize in painting dolls with themes or characters or natural categories. The regions with obvious dolls style in Russia include Sergiyev Posad, Semionovo (now the town of Semyonov), Polkhovsky Maidan and Kirov.