Coffer

History

The stone coffers of the ancient Greeks and Romans are the earliest surviving examples, but a seventh-century BC 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 filling the lacunae. Coffering is known as zaojing () in ancient Chinese wooden architecture.{{cite book | url-access=registration

It was thought for centuries that wooden coffers were first made by crossing the wooden beams of a ceiling in the Loire Valley châteaux of the early Renaissance.{{cite web |access-date=2007-10-17

Experimentation with the possible shapes in 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. Coffered ceilings were used in cathedrals starting with St Mark's Basilica and Santa Maria Maggiore. They spread following the reforms of the Council of Trent, as the improved acoustics and opportunity to include statues, apostolic heraldry and other religious elements in compositions with versatile shapes was thought to enhance the doctrinal purpose of a cathedral.

Gallery

File:7530vik Wawel. Foto Barbara Maliszewska.jpg|Coffered plafond at Wawel Castle, Kraków, Poland File:Palazzo Vecchio - Sala dell'Udienza - ceilings.jpg|Coffered ceiling of the Sala dell'Udienza, in the Palazzo Vecchio in Florence File:Chapelle Expiatoire 1, Paris 2010.jpg|Chapelle Expiatoire, Paris File:Ceiling SM Maggiore.jpg|Giuliano da Sangallo's flat caisson ceiling from Basilica di Santa Maria Maggiore, Rome File:Coffered ceilings of Mir Castle.jpg|Coffered ceilings of Mir Castle, Belarus File:Chancel ceiling, Church of the Good Shepherd.jpg|Chancel ceiling, Church of the Good Shepherd (Rosemont, Pennsylvania) File:Viktor Kovačić - Palača burze u Zagrebu - predvorje (vestibul) - kasetirani svod.jpg|Coffered ceiling, Stock Exchange Pallace, Zagreb File:L'Enfant Plaza station from north mezzanine, March 2019.jpg|Coffered ceiling typical of stations on the Washington Metro (Washington, DC)

Footnotes

References

1. An alternative, in a description of [[Domitian]]'s audience hall by [[Statius]], noted by Ulrich 2007:156, is ''laquearia'', not a copyist's error, as it appears in [[Marcus Manilius. Manilius]]' ''Astronomica'' (1.533, quoted by Ulrich).
2. An example is the main ''[[wikt:hieron. hieron]]'' at [[Samothrace]], where stone ceiling beams of the [[pronaos]] carried a coffered ceiling of marble slabs across a span of about 6.15 m (J.J. Coulton, ''Ancient Greek Architects at Work: Problems of Structure and Design''; Cornell University Press) 1982:147; {{ISBN. 978-0801492341)
3. Roman wooden coffered ceilings are discussed in Roger Bradley Ulrich, ''Roman Woodworking'', ch. "Roofing and ceilings" (Yale University Press) 2007.
4. Illustrated in Ulrich, fig 8.27.
5. Hooper, John. (2012-07-23). "House of the Telephus Relief: raising the roof on Roman real estate". [[The Guardian]].
6. Freiberg, Jack. (January 2019). "Di Sotto in Su: Soffiti nel Rinascimento a Roma". Rome, Palombi editore.
7. Tosini, Arianna. (2022). "Coffered ceilings in the churches of Rome, from the 15th to the 20th century". Technologies Engineering Materials Architecture.