The recumbent monuments represent a primary form of stećci. They are found in all of the distribution areas. Artistic shaping of stećci is expressed in their form and decoration. The basic artistic quality of stećci lays in decorations rendered in two stone-carving techniques. The most frequent is a bass relief, though engraved drawings are not uncommon.

Along with their accentuated symbolism characteristic of the mediaeval art, decoration motifs also exhibit religious symbols as well as other interlaced and combined ornaments. Generally speaking, the ornamentation reveals the understanding and sensibility of an entire era, both of the people who took part in their creation and of the deceased who found their final resting place under them. The epitaphs on them are written in Cyrillic alphabet. Their most remarkable feature is their decorative motifs, spirals, arcades, rosettes, vine leaves and grapes, suns and crescent moons. Figural motifs include processions of deer, dancing, hunting and the image of the man with his right hand raised.