Dutch Originals - Sculpture, Intec Gaper nr 27, collectors item, handgeschilderd - 20 cm - crushed natural stone - 1973

gaper no. 27. 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 eventually destroyed at a farewell party of the Company in the presence of the guests.

Gapers were recognition 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 of those still used as recognition marks 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 professional; 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 people from the East with a turban. Furthermore there are fools, police officers, firefighters, Roman soldiers and patients.