This is a review of Dmitry Ivanov’s significant study of the 18th century Buddhist collections of the Saint Petersburg Academy of Sciences, now preserved at the Museum of Anthropology and Ethnography, RAS. The review provides some insights into non-textual artefacts originating from Sem Palat and Ablai-kit. In the appendix, the icon of Acala (kept in the Glasgow University Library) that is supposed to have been brought from Sem Palat is published.