Sculpture, Gapers, Apotheek - 18 cm - Plaster - 2000

3 lifelike scale replicas of a gape-faced figure that were used as signs on the façades of drugstores and apothecaries

Gapers were identifying marks for pharmacies, chemists and drugstores. They first appeared at the end of the sixteenth century and occur only in Dutch-, Frisian-, and Flemish-language areas. Most that are still used as signs today date from the nineteenth century or are replicas.
The gape-faced figure remains a mysterious phenomenon. The origin is unknown. For its hallmark, the wide-open mouth, there are various explanations. A physician; showing your tongue for a diagnosis, and then taking the prescribed medicines. Some gapers indeed have a pill on the tongue or a sulfur match in the mouth. Another explanation could be that the patient, overwhelmed by fatigue, lets his mouth fall open. The most common gapers are easterners with a turban. Moreover there are jesters, police officers, firefighters, Roman soldiers, and the sick.