A yawner

That's what we call these kind of statues, a yawner. In fact, the head is not yawning at all. These kind of statues are from the 17th century (I don't think this specific one is that old). They were put in place to mark the presence of a pharmacy. The head is opening his mouth so a medicine can be placed on the tongue. His look gives away he is either feeling bad, in pain or the medicine tastes awful. The heads used to have a more Moorish appearance, probably to indicate the origin of the ingredients of medicine.

The photo was taken in my home town, during a walk I made from home, through town and back home again. More photos at Flickr.

Update: I found an overview of yawners, still existing in Holland. It seems we have a second one our hometown, I'll have to check it out.