JAIME DE LA JARA

"Today, just to satisfy my desire to see the extraordinary height of the place, I have climbed to the highest peak in the region, which is known -and rightly so- as Mont Ventoux (Windy Mountain). The idea of this outing has been on my mind these many years, for it is fate, as you know, which drives man's affairs, and has made me roam these lands since childhood, and this hill, which can be seen from afar, is almost always before our eyes".

Francesco Petrarch. A Dionigi da Borgo San Sepolcro, on some concerns of his own. Familiares, IV, 1.

Here we are studying an ovoid figure, in the shape of a bottle or small pumpkin, made of diverse materials. We can see how it is produced with different types of wood, paste or plastic.

The shape of this figure is similar to an egg that has been squashed in the middle, and also slightly elongated. It is made in different sizes, and decorated in different ways. These characteristics depend on when the figure was made and its region of origin. This is where, if it had been made recently, we can find it either as handmade or manufactured industrially.

The original material of this figure was wood. Firstly, carving was used, in order to get the shape of an ovoid bottle, and then it was worked over with a lathe, and when this piece started to take off economically, there was the need for its mass production.

Its foot or supporting base is usually entirely circular, produced by a secant cut to the figure's base, in order to give it stability and balance. The decoration of this figure is made through a polychromy before its final varnishing or lacquering. The figure is fully painted, using a wide range of colours. The ornamental motifs are, in their shape and colour, just like those made in the different guilds of the time.

The figure we are studying here has a horizontal slit at the middle that cuts it off fully, generating a circular-shape section. When we separate these two halves, we can see that the piece has been wholly emptied in both. This cavity-culling process was done by knife, lathe, or with the most suitable technique for the material at the time in question. Thus, there is a hollow shell within. The piece has been shelled in parallel to its outside, so that another smaller piece can then be placed within, of the same shape as the first. The section of the first figure has a step-like section, to prevent its shifting and to ease its assemblage.

After seeing that another figure, in the same shape but smaller, has been placed inside the first, we take this second figure out. We observe that this second figure, shaped as an ovoid bottle, possesses a polychromy similar to the first. It has ornamental details, the same support and material as the first. These characteristics will always vary according to the place and time when this figure was made. In addition, we will be able to see that this second piece has the same cut, and at a height proportional to the first figure, severing it similarly and completely. When observing the section, we see the same assemblage mechanism, and an interior emptied in the same way as the first. We also find this single difference, that the second piece is smaller than the first. After seeing these details, as happened when we opened the first figure, we found that it has a hollow inside too, and behold; it contains a third figure.

This third discovery, like the previous one, leads us to think that this third figure will have the same characteristics as the first and the second ― and sure enough, in this new third figure, we note that the same circumstances concur. The same type of polychromy, the same ovoid shape, support plane, material, section in its middle, and ornaments similar to those found in the first and second. As had happened with the second figure, this third piece only differentiates itself from the second in size, so that it can be held within the second. When we open this third, we find that, here too, and for the third time, this figure has been emptied inside, hiding within a fourth little figure, yet smaller in size.

In this fourth piece shaped as an ovoid bottle, the labour conducted in the first piece was made: shape, polychromy, section, assemblage, support plane and, as far as we can guess, to empty the innards. All characteristics have been replicated again, there being a single difference, its size. It will be easy to understand and imagine that the inside volume is different, as it happened with the second and the third figure. For the fourth time in a row, we find a fifth surprise, although we saw it coming really.

This fifth analysis leads us to heighten the suspense and pose a question that we surely all want to know: How many figures does the piece contain? Upon examining this fifth piece, we will again find that it has been equally carved to shape in the form of an ovoid bottle. It is painted with ornamental details, as previously, and its polychromy has the same technique. It also has the secant section in its bottom, to secure perfect support and balance. However, going deeper into our analysis, we can see that this fifth piece lacks one of the characteristics possessed by the other four. This fifth figure does not have the horizontal section at the middle, and it doesn't possess an assemblage or hollow within, either, as we have seen in the others. Now this fifth figure, made out of the same material as the outer four, is completely solid. When judging its size, we see that it is small, making it hard for its maker to handle, by more or less artisan means, and add to its complexity. The material, thus, cannot be emptied anymore without risking fracture and leaving enough space for a sixth piece, with the same features as the other five.

Another thing that can be observed, and carries great import for the mechanism of this multiple object, is the space left between each and all of its figures. This space has to be just enough to hold the smaller piece within each of them, and must have a certain play, so that the interior piece can fit easily, yet secure. In this way, the inside piece or pieces do not wear down, and their polychromy is not damaged when moved. The space inside can be qualified as perfect play. This happens in all but the last or smallest of the figures, because its scale does not allow for its hollowing-out, let alone play.

All these pieces are decorated with ornaments and organic elements through polychromy and pyrography. Currently, one can also find them decorated with serigraphy. As part of these ornaments, there are usually floral motifs, such as in most décor of the time and in the major region where these figures are from and have been made. This kind of polychromy, in the oldest pieces, is usually made of saturated, warm and almost always primary colours, produced with local pigments. The bottom part of these figures with the shape of an ovoid bottle is usually painted in a single colour, or with little ornamental detail. The upper part is where most of ornaments and motifs are centred.

Shape, repetition and arrangement prompt another important question for the understanding of this layered figure: Which layer was the one first made? Was it the biggest or the smallest? At first sight, following the same order as when analysing the figure, leads us, at first, to think that it has been made from large scale to small. Subsequently, and keeping in mind everything said above, when we try to undo its making process, we see that the most complex piece in its production is the smallest one, the fifth. If we plan a project and work the plan, knowing that the final result is a multiple figure made up of five parts of a certain material, and that the smallest is the most complex, we realise that the piece that determines size and order is the smallest. The production process of this multiple piece goes from large to small. This is very significant, when it comes to the meaning of such a layered figure.

To sum up the making of this piece, the following steps should be followed: Start with the smallest one. Then put this figure within another of a somewhat bigger size. To continue, put again the last figure into a bigger one. Repeat this step until desired or, as we have seen in this piece, it reaches a total of five figures.

This multi-layered-figure, with such a characteristic shape, of an ovoid bottle, is the formal and symbolic simplification of an important element of a specific society and time. What is interesting in this representative figure is that it does not come from the place where it was made as a symbol, as we all tend to think, but has been adopted, and then adapted by taste.

At the turn of the 19th century, a Russian traveller who had been roving through the Far East, carried to Saya Mamotov's toy workshop a singular figure he had purchased in Japan. The said figure, made of wood, had an ovoid shape, and an added singular wonder, in which there was another figure, in the same shape but smaller than the first, and, in turn, the second had a third, and so on, until reaching a variable number of dolls finishing with the smallest of all, which was completely solid. This doll represented a Japanese sage called Fukuruma, who appeared stuffed with so many dolls. This figure stirred a great interest in Saya Mamotov, who decided to make a toy figure of similar characteristics. This new multiple figure was a sort of homage to the Russian peasant mothers of the turn of that century. Soon this figure acquired the value of a symbol, and was recreated by most Russian artisans of the time. This doll was called Matrioshka.