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Coffer

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Series of sunken panels in a ceiling or vault

This article is about the architectural ceiling element. For other uses, seeCoffer (disambiguation).

Coffering on the ceiling of thePantheon (Rome)

Coffered ceiling with carved human heads atWawel Castle (Kraków)

Acoffer (orcoffering) inarchitecture is a series of sunken panels in the shape of a square, rectangle, oroctagon in aceiling,soffit orvault.^[1] A series of these sunken panels was often used as decoration for a ceiling or a vault, also calledcaissons ("boxes"), orlacunaria ("spaces, openings"),^[2] so that a coffered ceiling can be called alacunar ceiling: the strength of the structure is in the framework of the coffers.

History

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The stone coffers of theancient Greeks^[3] andRomans^[4] are the earliest surviving examples, but a seventh-century BCEtruscan chamber tomb in thenecropolis 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 thelacunae.^[5] Coffering is known aszaojing (Chinese:藻井;pinyin:zǎojǐng) inancient Chinese wooden architecture.^[6]

It was thought for centuries that wooden coffers were first made by crossing the wooden beams of a ceiling in theLoire Valley châteaux of theearly Renaissance.^[7] However, archaeologists working at the House of the Telephus inHerculaneum in 2012 discovered that wooden coffered ceilings were constructed in Roman times.^[8] A prominent example of Roman coffering, employed to lighten the weight of the dome, can be found in the ceiling of therotunda dome in thePantheon, Rome.^{[citation needed]}

Experimentation with the possible shapes in coffering, which solve problems ofmathematical tiling, or tessellation, were a feature ofIslamic as well asRenaissance 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.^{[citation needed]} Coffered ceilings were used in cathedrals starting withSt Mark's Basilica andSanta Maria Maggiore. They spread following the reforms of theCouncil of Trent, as the improved acoustics and opportunity to include statues, apostolic heraldry^[9] and other religious elements in compositions with versatile shapes was thought to enhance the doctrinal purpose of a cathedral.^[10]

Gallery

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Cofferedplafond atWawel Castle,Kraków, Poland
Coffered ceiling of the Sala dell'Udienza, in thePalazzo Vecchio in Florence
Chapelle Expiatoire, Paris
Giuliano da Sangallo's flat caisson ceiling fromBasilica di Santa Maria Maggiore, Rome
Coffered ceilings ofMir Castle,Belarus
Chancel ceiling,Church of the Good Shepherd (Rosemont, Pennsylvania)
Coffered ceiling, Stock Exchange Pallace,Zagreb
Coffered ceiling typical of stations on theWashington Metro (Washington, DC)

Footnotes

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^Ching, Francis D.K. (1995).A Visual Dictionary of Architecture. New York: John Wiley & Sons, Inc. p. 30.ISBN 0-471-28451-3.
^An alternative, in a description ofDomitian's audience hall byStatius, noted by Ulrich 2007:156, islaquearia, not a copyist's error, as it appears inManilius'Astronomica (1.533, quoted by Ulrich).
^An example is the mainhieron atSamothrace, where stone ceiling beams of thepronaos 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)
^Roman wooden coffered ceilings are discussed in Roger Bradley Ulrich,Roman Woodworking, ch. "Roofing and ceilings" (Yale University Press) 2007.
^Illustrated in Ulrich, fig 8.27.
^Ching, Francis D.K.; et al. (2007).A Global History of Architecture. New York: John Wiley and Sons. p. 787.ISBN 978-0-471-26892-5.
^"coffer". Encyclopædia Britannica Online. Retrieved2007-10-17.
^Hooper, John (2012-07-23)."House of the Telephus Relief: raising the roof on Roman real estate".The Guardian. Retrieved2015-01-16.Buried by Vesuvius nearly 2,000 years ago, archaeologists at Herculaneum have excavated and carried out the first-ever full reconstruction of the timber roof of a Roman villa
^Freiberg, Jack (January 2019). "The Heraldic Ceilings of the Lateran Basilica".Di Sotto in Su: Soffiti nel Rinascimento a Roma. Rome, Palombi editore. pp. 39–60.
^Tosini, Arianna (2022)."Coffered ceilings in the churches of Rome, from the 15th to the 20th century"(PDF).Technologies Engineering Materials Architecture.8 (1): 110.doi:10.30682/tema08SIi.