Coffer

The stone coffers of the ancient Greeks[3] and Romans[4] 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.

[6] In 2012, however, archaeologists working under the Packard Humanities Institute at the House of the Telephus in Herculaneum discovered that wooden coffered ceilings were constructed in Roman times.

[7] 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.

They spread following the reforms of the Council of Trent, as the improved acoustics and opportunity to include statues, apostolic heraldry[8] and other religious elements in compositions with versatile shapes was thought to enhance the doctrinal purpose of a cathedral.