Editing Gaper (section)

=== Design, style, and symbolism ===
Each gaper is hand cut and painted using a stone or wood base. They are usually displayed with an open mouth or with their tongues sticking out. Recent research indicates that the open mouth originates from the way the chemist's customers gaped with astonishment when they saw the enormous variety of exotic substances inside. Gapers have facial expressions ranging from innocent to humorous to suffering. Gapers takes on various appearances with each instance being unique. Their individual designs are claimed to be specific to the specialties of the drugstore.

The [[orient]]al gapers are categorized between two identities: the Muslim and the Moor, both referring to people from the [[Maghreb]] in North-West Africa. Gapers with dark brown or black skin were used to represent the moors.<ref name=":2" /> The common oriental gaper often wore a [[turban]] with gold earrings. The turban confirmed an exotic origin that suggested the origin of the medicines to customers.

There are also many white gapers, often looking very ill with a pale skin color or having a facial expression of suffering and pain. These symbolize the patients of the chemist.

There were also 'golden' gapers, gapers with a crown and gapers with a monkey on their shoulder. Although women have taken up the chemist's profession since 1950, in [[Holland]], few gapers depict a female. Before 1950, the profession of chemist was an exclusively male preserve. A law of 1865 prohibited women from following education to become a chemist. The first female chemist in the Netherlands (also one of the first female retailers) was Mia Ranke, who opened her chemist's shop in 1934.<ref>{{Cite book|url=https://archive.org/details/wandererinhollan00lucaiala|page=[https://archive.org/details/wandererinhollan00lucaiala/page/11 11]|quote=gaper dutch scholar.|title=A Wanderer in Holland|last=Lucas|first=Edward Verrall|date=1909|publisher=Macmillan|language=en}}</ref> The gaper referring to illness or a sick patient commonly wore a hat with a hanging point with a [[tassel]] or [[pom-pom]] attached to it.<ref name=":2" /> Some gapers were depicted in uniform, as a [[Fire department|fire brigade]], [[police]] or a [[Roman Empire|Roman]] soldier. In the [[France|French]] era (1795-1813) there was a push towards a national policy on medicine sales. The gapers in uniform were introduced during the second half of the 19th century after the government extended authority on the sale of medicines.<ref name=":2" />

The gaper had several identities that suggest background information or a story to the onlooker. The gaper as a [[jester]] would "refer to the helper of the traveling person or quack".<ref name=":0" /> The helper acted as a patient who, for example, would picture the miracle provided and instantly healed his illness. This whole play was accompanied by many theatrical gestures and grimaces. Then the quack called everyone who wanted to hear how well the treatment worked, to pull in as many customers as possible. The traveling quack would settle in a store with a wooden sign of the trusted helper placed by the store’s front door.<ref name=":1" /> As a symbol for the jester or help, the gaper would perform silly acts outside the store or in privacy to entertain customers and bring in more business. The [[Orient]]al dressed gaper possibly refers to the use of ingredients such as [[aloe vera]], opium and [[gum arabic]] in medicines.<ref name=":2" /> It would "reference to the origin of the opium that is in the store sold in the form of sleeping dumplings."<ref name=":0" /> It is difficult to say if all the different types of gapers have been around since the beginning. It is also possible that most of the different characters were a later development.