New Finds

In my last post I mentioned that I had stopped by the Mount Sinai Resale Shop the other day but I didn’t mention that I found two great pieces. The first one to catch my eye was an Oaxacan carved and painted piece. My first thought was that it was a cow but a staff person at the store called it a pig and now I’m not sure which it is.

It is signed on the bottom in pencil rather than white ink as most of our Oaxacan pieces are.

It is a bit hard to decipher but says Maximino Santiago Garcia, La Union Tejalapan, Etla, Oaxaco. I found a similar piece online by Maximino Bartola Santiago Garcia. His bio on the site Feria Maestros del Arte mentions that he works alongside six of his family members. I also found an almost identical piece credited to Maximino Santiago on an Oaxaco La Galeria le Mano Magica gallery’s Instagram post.

When we thought about where to display it we both thought it belonged in the kitchen and since we no longer have the small tin collection on the back of our stove we thought that would be the perfect place for it.

The second piece that caught my eye was a Matryoshka doll – except it wasn’t. While it had a seam, I didn’t think it could be opened and it seemed way too heavy. I could also hear a faint bell.

So I thought it must be the same thing as another piece with a much clearer bell that I had found at the table at the dump in Northampton.

Googling their qualities led me to the Alkota Russian Treasures website and this description.

“Russian Rolly-Polly, called in Russia Nevalyazhka, or Vanka-Vstanka is a popular Russian doll. Instead of different people, or nests inside which can be opened in Matryoshka doll, Nevalyazhka has a bell inside and makes sound if you touch it or play with it. Russian nevalyashkas appeared in some parts of the European Russia in the beginning of the 20th century and quickly grew in popularity along with the rise of Matryoshka nesting dolls.”

It was also interesting to find out why it looks like you can open it. “The process of making a Russian Rolly-Polly involves making a blank out of wood, taking off the wood from the inside of the blank, putting a bell inside, glueing both parts (upper and lower) together and finally painting it.”

Another interesting thing about the new one is that it is embellished with straw marquetry. I might be running out of places for display so I tucked her in a space (in front of a gargoyle) above the other one and to the left of the matroyskas.