cof·fer 

 (kô f r, k f r)
n.
1. A strongbox.
2. often coffers
a. Financial resources; funds.
b. A treasury: stole money from the union coffers.
3. Architecture A decorative sunken panel in a ceiling, dome, soffit, or vault.
4. The chamber formed by a canal lock.
5. A cofferdam.
6. A floating dock.
tr.v. cof·fered, cof·fer·ing, cof·fers
1. To put in a coffer.
2. Architecture To supply (a ceiling, for example) with decorative sunken panels.

Collins English Dictionary – Complete and Unabridged

ThesaurusLegend:  Synonyms Related Words Antonyms
Noun 1. coffer - an ornamental sunken panel in a ceiling or dome
caisson, lacuna
panel - sheet that forms a distinct (usually flat and rectangular) section or
component of something

2.

In architecture, a square or polygonal ornamental sunken panel used in a series as decoration for a

ceiling or vault. Coffers were probably originally formed by wooden beams crossing one another to

produce a grid. The earliest surviving examples were made of stone by the ancient Greeks and

Romans. Coffering was revived in the Renaissance and was common in Baroque and Neoclassical

arcA coffer (or coffering) in architecture, is a sunken panel in the shape of a square, rectangle,

oroctagon in a ceiling, soffit or vault.[1] A series of these sunken panels were used as decoration for a

ceiling or a vault, also called caissons ('boxes"), or lacunaria ("spaces, openings"),[2] so that a coffered

ceiling can be called a lacunar ceiling: the strength of the structure is in the framework of the coffers.

The stone coffers of the ancient Greeks[3] and Romans[4] are the earliest surviving examples, but a

seventh-century BCE Etruscan chamber tomb in the necropolis of San Giuliano, which is cut in soft

tufa-like stone reproduces a ceiling with beams and cross-beams lying on them, with flat panels

fillings the lacunae.[5] Wooden coffers were first made by crossing the wooden beams of a ceiling in

the Loire Valley châteaux of the early Renaissance.[6]

Experimentation with the possible shapes of coffering, which solve problems of mathematical tiling, or

tessellation, were a feature of Islamic as well as Renaissance architecture. The more complicated

problems of diminishing the scale of the individual coffers were presented by the requirements of

curved surfaces of vaults and domes.

A prominent example of Roman coffering, employed to lighten the weight of the dome, can be found

in the ceiling of the rotunda dome in the Pantheon, Rome.

hitecture.

A coffer (or coffering) in architecture, is a sunken panel in the shape of a square, rectangle,

or octagon in a ceiling, soffit or vault.[1] A series of these sunken panels were used as decoration for a
ceiling or a vault, also called caissons ('boxes"), or lacunaria ("spaces, openings"),[2] so that a coffered
ceiling can be called a lacunar ceiling: the strength of the structure is in the framework of the coffers. The
stone coffers of the ancient Greeks[3] and Romans[4] are the earliest surviving examples, but a seventh-
century BCE Etruscan chamber tomb in the necropolis of San Giuliano, which is cut in soft tufa-like stone
reproduces a ceiling with beams and cross-beams lying on them, with flat panels fillings thelacunae.
[5]
 Wooden coffers were first made by crossing the wooden beams of a ceiling in the Loire
Valley châteaux of the early Renaissance.[6]

Experimentation with the possible shapes of coffering, which solve problems of mathematical tiling, or
tessellation, were a feature of Islamic as well as Renaissance architecture. The more complicated
problems of diminishing the scale of the individual coffers were presented by the requirements of curved
surfaces of vaults and domes.

A prominent example of Roman coffering, employed to lighten the weight of the dome, can be found in
the ceiling of the rotunda dome in the Pantheon, Rome.

In ancient Chinese wooden architecture, coffering is known as 藻井 zǎojǐng.[7]

Giuliano da Sangallo's flat

caisson ceiling, Basilica di Santa

Gilded coffering on abarrel Maria Maggiore, Rome Late 16th century coffered Coffered ceiling with 39 painted

vault of ceiling of Santa Maria in panels in Palazzo

the apsis inNazaré, Portugal Aracoeli, Rome Vecchio, Florence, Italy

Neoclassical coffered dome
Inside Pisa's Duomo
of James Wyatt's Pantheon,
15th-century flat coffered Painted coffering in octagons London

ceiling, Duomo of Pisa and squares atFontainebleau

Coffering in modern
Coffered and glazed
architecture:theWashington
dome, Halifax Town Hall,
Council chamber Problems arising where vaults
Metro
1863
ceiling,Halifax Town Hall, intersect are not always

1863 successfully solved (Commerce

Court, Toronto)