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

3 life-size faithful replicas of a gape figure used on the façades of drugstores and pharmacies as a signboard.

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 date from the nineteenth century or are replicas.
The gape figure remains an enigmatic phenomenon. The origin is unknown. For its characteristic, the wide-open mouth, there are several explanations. One is medical: showing the tongue for a diagnosis, and then taking the prescribed medicines. Some gapers even have a pill on the tongue or a sulfur match in the mouth. Another possibility is that the patient, overwhelmed by fatigue, lets the mouth fall open. The most common gapers are Easterners with a turban. Other figures include fools, policemen, firefighters, Roman soldiers, and the sick.