Humanities & Social Sciences 4 (2016 9) 745-774 ~ ~ ~ УДК 725.05(571.1/5)“17” Eastern Motifs in the Ornamentation of Eighteenth-Century Siberian Church Architecture William C. Brumfi eld* Tulane University New Orleans, Louisiana, USA Received 19.12.2015, received in revised form 21.01.2016, accepted 24.02.2016 Russia’s engagement with Asian peoples and cultures forms a topic whose boundaries have yet to be thoroughly explored, particularly in the relationship between Russian and Asian architecture. <...> The present article will point to specifi c instances, primarily in eighteenth-century Siberian church architecture that suggest a Russian receptivity to east Asian ornamentation. <...> Such exchange, it will be argued, seems to have occurred in the realm of architecture, in which decorative motifs could be observed, disseminated (even in printed form) and copied at signifi cant points along Russia’s Asian pathways. <...> Keywords: Siberian church architecture, Baroque architecture, Tobolsk, Irkutsk, Eniseisk, Buriatiia, Krasnoiarsk, Buddhist visual culture, Russo-Chinese trade, Ivan Bechevin. <...> All rights reserved * Corresponding author E-mail address: william.brumfi eld@gmail.com # 745 # east Asian ornamentation. <...> Such exchange, it will be argued, seems to have occurred in the realm of architecture, in which decorative motifs could be observed, disseminated (even in printed form) and copied at signifi cant points along Russia’s Asian pathways. <...> Indeed, it would appear that this receptivity was encouraged by the highly ornamental styles of Muscovite and Ukrainian “baroque” church William C. Brumfi eld. <...> Precisely this Russo-Ukrainian tendency toward facade ornamentation, which lasted in “Siberian baroque” architecture throughout the eighteenth century, created a tolerance for decorative motifs1 . <...> As will be seen below, certain Siberian ornamental fi gures clearly refl ect Buddhist art. <...> In other examples, such as steeply elevated profi led window pediments, the possibility of Asian derivation is based on the formal resemblance to stupa forms and to devotional objects such as metal Buddhist lamps2 . <...> And there are numerous examples of complex ogival window pediments in Russian church architecture of the seventeenth century, such <...>