The Ark (from the old glory. "Ark" - a box , a chest , a vessel ) - in the icon - painting - a deepened middle field on the front surface of the icon board. The shape more or less repeats the shape of the board (most often - rectangular). Depth - up to 5 mm. The edges of the board, not occupied by the ark, are called fields ; the transition from the ark to the middle field is called a husk .
There are no clear and generally accepted theories about the causes of the ark. Aesthetic and technological assumptions can be distinguished. According to the first, the fields of the icon visually form a frame, the spatially in-depth painting is separated from the environment, a semblance of a “ window ” into the world of the image is formed. According to technological theories, the ark recess saves the icon board from inevitable deformation (arching) over time, in addition, the recess could help the last stage of icon painting - applying a protective layer, forming a bath for a warm drying oil above the surface of the painting.
The presence or absence of the ark, its depth, shape and other features make it possible to judge the time of the creation of the icon. Ancient icons almost always have an ark. In the XIV-XV centuries, the fields of icons are usually narrow, the ark is elongated. In the second half of the XVI century, while maintaining the same proportions of the board, the ark tends to be square, the fields become wider, sometimes a double ark appears, while the inner ark is more deepened, more importance is given to the fields in painting. In the late sixteenth and seventeenth centuries, icons appeared without the ark, although the ark is pictorially indicated: in place of the husks, an outline is painted with contrasting paint, the icon fields are highlighted. Since the 18th century, the illusion of the ark also disappears in icon painting; an icon is often inserted into a richly decorated frame (which came from European painting ). In modern icon painting, the ark has again become a tradition.
Icon collectors among collectors are sometimes scornfully called " arkans, " since for the layman in the attribution and dating of icons, almost the only indicator of antiquity, and, consequently, the value of an icon was the presence of the ark.