BALUSTER (sometimes incorrectly written "banister"), one of a series of small posts supporting the coping or hand-rail of a parapet or railing. Colonnettes are shown as balusters in Assyr ian palaces by contemporary bas-reliefs and are similarly used in many railings of the Gothic period. Although no Greek or Roman example of the baluster is known, the Italian Renaissance de signers made great use of it, employing, instead of the mediaeval colonnette, forms richly moulded and usually round. The Renais sance balusters generally had a capital, a base and a vase-shaped form between. In early Renaissance work a form similar to two vases set base to base is frequent. The later Renaissance architects codified balusters into orders like columns, and those of the Baroque went to the other extreme of fantasy in baluster form.