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coffer

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coffer

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Baroque coffered ceiling of the cupola of S. Carlo alle Quattro Fontane, Rome, designed by …
(credit: SCALA—Art Reference/EB Inc.)
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 architecture.

coffer
1. an ornamental sunken panel in a ceiling, dome, etc.
2. a watertight box or chamber
3. 
a. short for cofferdam
b. a recessed panel in a concrete, metal, or timber soffit


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The queen looked around her for some sacred object by which she could swear, and taking out of a cupboard hidden in the tapestry, a small coffer of rosewood set in silver, and laying it on the altar:
Twenty Years After by Dumas, Alexandre View in context
Athos always carried the key of this coffer about him; but he one day opened it before Porthos, and Porthos was convinced that this coffer contained nothing but letters and papers--love letters and family papers, no doubt.
The Three Musketeers by Dumas, Alexandre View in context
When he was able to rejoin her, she was examining a curious little coffer which stood upon an ivory table.
The Illustrious Prince by Oppenheim, E. Phillips View in context
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