Abstract:The article presents a chapter «Ornament» of the doctoral thesis of the author, defended in 1985. Therefore literature known at that time is used in the article. Published chapter respond the thesis in a whole: characteristics and comparative and historical analysis of the components of traditional culture of the Eastern Khanty, identification of ethnic and cultural ties and ethnic specificity in them. These aspects are of enduring relevance and methodological value for the study of such complex conglomerate as the Ob Ugrians. The article describes the various signs of artistic treatment of the traditional products of the Eastern Khanty on the general Ob-Ugric background. Technique and material: woodcarving, horn and bone carving; grass and bark weaving, tendon weaving, weaving out of cedar roots; eight methods of decorating of objects with use of birch and silver-fir bark; mosaic and applique on rovduga, fur, fabrics; thread embroidery and knitting;  bead stringing and embroidery. Composition: ornament location; the predominance of rectangular or obliqueangled net; division into zones. Style: straightness and angularity of the patterns. Basic motifs: arches, broken lines, waves, rhombuses, heads, graphic inclusions, etc. These features have revealed ethnic and cultural ties with other groups of Khanty and Mansi, Selkups, Kets, Nenets, Evenki, Shorians, Tatars, Bashkirs, Russians, Yakuts. Opinions of different authors about the possible origins of some of these features in the archeological cultures and monuments from the Urals to the Baikal region are considered in the article. Ethnic and local specificity is researched at two levels: first, intergroup differences within the Eastern Khanty; secondly, differences from the Western Khanty and Mansi. Modern changes in the ornamental arts of the Eastern Khanty – new materials and motifs, the transition to polychrome – are described.
Key words: Eastern Khanty, ornament, technique, material, composition, style, motifs, ethnic and cultural ties, ethnic specificity.