Paestan (pottery style)

Refers to a pottery style that probably developed at Paestum, near Salerno, Italy, and is characterized by a remarkable unity of painting style, subject matter, and ornamentation. Vases were made in various shapes, most notably the bell krater and the lebes gamikos with a complex lid made of multiple elements. Scenes often portray women's daily life and Dionysiac subjects, and distinctive motifs include several types of flowers, drapery with a dot-and-stripe border, unusual dipictions of rows of onlookers, and palmettes that are placed below the handle and serve as a frame for the figural scenes.