Dymkovo toys are one of the old Russian folk art clay handicrafts. The little figures are moulded piece by piece, fastened together and then dried and tempered, whitewashed with chalk diluted in milk and painted yellow, blue, green and scarlet, which makes the toys exceptionally vivid and colourful. The motifs include young people, skomorokhs (wandering actors and minstrels), barynyas (landladies), cavaliers, nyanki (nannies with babies), vodonoski (female water carriers), sheep with golden horns, turkeys, roosters, deers.
The matryoshka doll refers to a Russian wooden toy which is a set of painted dolls of a decreasing size nested inside each other. There are usually three to twelve smaller dolls inside. They are egg-shaped with a flat base and have two halves: the top and the bottom. Traditionally the outer layer is a woman dressed in a sarafan, apron and headscarf.
The postage stamp depicts a Carrousel Dymkovo toy and matryoshka dolls.
An illustrated cover has been prepared for the release with cancelled FDCs (Moscow, Saint Petersburg) inside.
Design: V. Beltyukov.
Face value: 23 RUB.
Size stamp: 37×50 mm, size of sheet: 168×170 mm.
Form of issue: a sheet of 12 (4×3) stamps with illustrated margins.
Circulation: 420 thousand stamps (35 thousand sheets).
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