High quality bronze steampunk sculpture of a Plague doctor placed on marble. Very detailed piece. +/- 13x10x11.5cm A Plague doctor was a physician who treated victims of the bubonic plague during epidemics. These physicians were hired by cities to treat infected patients regardless of income, especially the poor that could not afford to pay. Plague doctors are often depicted in Halloween costumes and seen as a symbol of death and disease. Plague doctors had a mixed reputation, with some citizens seeing their presence as a warning to leave the area. Some plague doctors were said to charge patients and their families additional fees for special treatments or false cures. In many cases these "doctors" were not experienced physicians or surgeons; instead, being volunteers, second-rate doctors, or young doctors just starting a career. In one case, a plague doctor was a fruit salesman before his employment as a physician. Plague doctors rarely cured patients; instead serving to record death tolls and the number of infected people for demographic purposes. In France and the Netherlands, plague doctors often lacked medical training and were referred to as "empirics." Plague doctors were known as municipal or "community plague doctors", whereas "general practitioners" were separate doctors and both might be in the same European city or town at the same time. This Xclusive item will be shipped very well packed. Furthermore, fragile tape will be placed on the package and a track code to track your package is available after sending out.