Dutch Originals - Sculpture, Intec Gaper nr 15, collectors item, handgeschilderd - 17 cm - crushed natural stone - 1967

Gapper No. 15. See and read the booklet. A collection of 41 gapers, published and produced by the company Intec in Veenendaal. Only drugstores and pharmacists with sufficient turnover received these, unique, hand-painted gapers. All made of ground natural stone, only number 41, the last one is made of resin. The molds were finally destroyed at a farewell party of the company in front 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 the Dutch, Frisian, and Flemish language areas. Most that are still used as identification marks today date from the nineteenth century or are replicas.
The gaper remains a mysterious phenomenon. The origin is unknown. For its feature, the wide-open mouth, there are several explanations. A medical explanation: 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. There are also jesters, police officers, firefighters, Roman soldiers and the sick.