A coffer (or coffering) in
architecture
Architecture is the art and technique of designing and building, as distinguished from the skills associated with construction. It is both the process and the product of sketching, conceiving, planning, designing, and construction, constructi ...
is a series of sunken panels in the shape of a square, rectangle, or
octagon
In geometry, an octagon () is an eight-sided polygon or 8-gon.
A '' regular octagon'' has Schläfli symbol and can also be constructed as a quasiregular truncated square, t, which alternates two types of edges. A truncated octagon, t is a ...
in a
ceiling,
soffit or
vault.
[
]
A series of these sunken panels was often used as decoration for a ceiling or a vault, also called ''caissons'' ("boxes"), or ''lacunaria'' ("spaces, openings"), so that a coffered ceiling can be called a ''lacunar'' ceiling: the strength of the structure is in the framework of the coffers.
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''. For centuries, it was thought that wooden coffers were first made by crossing the wooden beams of a ceiling in the
Loire Valley château
A château (, ; plural: châteaux) is a manor house, or palace, or residence of the lord of the manor, or a fine country house of nobility or gentry, with or without fortifications, originally, and still most frequently, in French-speaking re ...
x of the
early Renaissance. In 2012, however, archaeologists working under the Packard Humanities Institute at the House of the Telephus in
Herculaneum
Herculaneum is an ancient Rome, ancient Roman town located in the modern-day ''comune'' of Ercolano, Campania, Italy. Herculaneum was buried under a massive pyroclastic flow in the eruption of Mount Vesuvius in 79 AD.
Like the nearby city of ...
discovered that wooden coffered ceilings were constructed in Roman times.
Experimentation with the possible shapes in coffering, which solve problems of
mathematical tiling, or tessellation, were a feature of
Islamic
Islam is an Abrahamic religions, Abrahamic monotheistic religion based on the Quran, and the teachings of Muhammad. Adherents of Islam are called Muslims, who are estimated to number Islam by country, 2 billion worldwide and are the world ...
as well as
Renaissance architecture
Renaissance architecture is the European architecture of the period between the early 15th and early 16th centuries in different regions, demonstrating a conscious revival and development of certain elements of Ancient Greece, ancient Greek and ...
. 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.
Coffered ceilings were used in cathedrals starting with
St Mark's Basilica and
Santa Maria Maggiore
Santa Maria Maggiore (), also known as the Basilica of Saint Mary Major or the Basilica of Saint Mary the Great, is one of the four Basilicas in the Catholic Church#Major and papal basilicas, major papal basilicas and one of the Seven Pilgrim C ...
. They spread following the reforms of the
Council of Trent
The Council of Trent (), held between 1545 and 1563 in Trent (or Trento), now in northern Italy, was the 19th ecumenical council of the Catholic Church. Prompted by the Protestant Reformation at the time, it has been described as the "most ...
, 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.
Asian architecture
In
ancient Chinese wooden architecture, coffering is known as
''zaojing'' ().
Gallery
File:7530vik Wawel. Foto Barbara Maliszewska.jpg, Coffered plafond at Wawel Castle, Kraków
, officially the Royal Capital City of Kraków, is the List of cities and towns in Poland, second-largest and one of the oldest cities in Poland. Situated on the Vistula River in Lesser Poland Voivodeship, the city has a population of 804,237 ...
, 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
Belarus, officially the Republic of Belarus, is a landlocked country in Eastern Europe. It is bordered by Russia to the east and northeast, Ukraine to the south, Poland to the west, and Lithuania and Latvia to the northwest. Belarus spans an a ...
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
Zagreb ( ) is the capital (political), capital and List of cities and towns in Croatia#List of cities and towns, largest city of Croatia. It is in the Northern Croatia, north of the country, along the Sava river, at the southern slopes of the ...
File:L'Enfant Plaza station from north mezzanine, March 2019.jpg, Coffered ceiling typical of stations on the Washington Metro (Washington, DC)
See also
*
Dome
*
Dropped ceiling
*
Cove
A cove is a small bay or coastal inlet. They usually have narrow, restricted entrances, are often circular or oval, and are often situated within a larger bay. Small, narrow, sheltered bays, inlets, creek (tidal), creeks, or recesses in a coast ...
ceiling
*
Beam ceiling
*
Muqarnas
Footnotes
External links
U.S. National Capitol
{{Authority control
Ceilings
Architectural elements