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coffer

   Also found in: Dictionary/thesaurus, Wikipedia, Hutchinson 0.06 sec.

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.
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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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