Today in Michael's Museum: Wednesday, April 25, 2012

"Today in Michael's Museum" is dedicated to Isabel who came to CCM and MM to celebrate her third birthday. Isabel and her family are visiting from San Jose, California for a wedding but couldn't think of a better way to spend her birthday than by looking at tiny treasures. Besides a "MM Mini-Pencil" birthday gift, Isabel was presented with a miniature Lunch Box Pencil Sharpener (not a choking hazard!)

Michael's Museum had among its over 200 visitors today, a family from Singapore and a caregiver originally from Guatemala and her charge who said good naturally that we need to have a few more things from South America.

There was also a woman who was very interested in the miniature nested Russian Dolls (Matryoshkas) that are part off Susan Engel's "A World in Wood ... and more!" which is part of the Changing Collections Cabinet for April and May.

The first Russian nested doll set was carved in 1890 by Vasily Zvyozdochkin from a design by Sergey Malyutin, who was a folk crafts painter in the Abramtsevo estate of the Russian industrialist and patron of arts Savva Mamontov. 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.