originele intec gaper nr 19 - Sculpture, gaper, collectors item, handgeschilderd - 18 cm - ground natural stone - 1969

intec Gaper number 19. See and read the booklet. A collection of 41 gaps, issued and produced by the company Intec in Veenendaal. Only drugstores and chemists with sufficient turnover received these unique, hand-painted gaps. All made of ground natural stone, only number 41, the last one is made of resin. The molds were ultimately destroyed at a farewell party of the Company in the presence of the guests.

Gapers were identification marks for pharmacies, chemists and drugstores. They first appeared at the end of the sixteenth century and occur only in Dutch-, Frisian-, and Flemish-speaking areas. Most of those still used as identification marks date from the nineteenth century or are replicas.

The gaper remains a mysterious phenomenon. The origin is unknown. For its defining feature, the wide-open mouth, there are several explanations. A physician; showing your 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 possible explanation is that the patient, overwhelmed by fatigue, lets his mouth fall open. The most common gapers are easterners with a turban. There are also jesters, police officers, firefighters, Roman soldiers and patients.

Gapers are real folk-art products and occurred only in the Netherlands and Flanders.