[Dominique]

What procedure would you follow for manufacturing a treasure chest that minimizes water displacement?
of course taking into account properties of matter.
what 4 main properties of matter would you consider in this procedure?

[Dude]

The only things that I can think of that would affect water displacement are:
1.  overall volume of the chest
2.  density of the sum of the chest and components (assuming that a floating chest is acceptable or feasible, depending on the density of what is in it)- if it sinks, density is irrelevant.