The shipment is prepared in 2-4 days.ĭon’t Miss Out! Each Female Plague Doctor Mask is an original creation which means there is limited inventory since each mask is handcrafted. Fast and Trackable Shipping: Order is generally processed within 24 hours.The certification guarantees the buyer to have an original product.
Certificate of Authority: The mask comes with a “100% Made In Italy” and “100% Handmade in Italy” certificate issued by the Italian institute for the protection of producers – Italian ministry of the industry – which is issued ONLY to those who demonstrate that they the mask is produced in all aspects from its originality and creation, handmade in Italy.Master Artisans: Designed and made by Master Artisans with more than 50 years of experience.Once a terrifying symbol of death, today it is increasingly a popular choice by carnival goers or as a Halloween costume. The costume is also associated with a commedia dell’arte character called Il Medico della Peste who wears a distinctive plague doctor’s mask. A half-mask with an exaggerated nose, it stands out for its bird-like features such as a long beak and small, round holes for the eyes. Arguably one of the most famous masks, Plague Doctor masks, also known as the ‘Medico della Peste’ are indeed ghoulish looking but also one of the more distinctive masks of the Carnivale of Venice. As entire towns were killed off, the black beaked figures often roamed the streets and country sides like ghosts in search of someone to fix.Famous and elegant in color with the traditional decorations of the Venetian carnival, chess, stucco, and gold. Bloodletting via leeches was a popular go-to remedy, as was coating patients in mercury, dried frogs and arsenic and placing them in an oven to induce violent diarrhea and sweating. The combined lack of education in medicine and manic desperation led to some disastrous attempts to cure the population that accelerated death in most cases. Public servants at their core, the Plague Doctors sincerely yearned for the discovery of a cure. Under payroll from whatever city they operated out of, Plague Doctors were required to take an egalitarian approach to their practice by tending to both the rich and the poor. In France, records on mask function show the concoctions were sometimes burnt inside the beak to provide enhanced olfactory protection. Lavender, cloves, myrrh, camphor and mint were most often used. The beak was filled with herbs and spices to remedy the scent of death. The leather mask covered the entire head, including the eyes. Really a glorified air freshener, L’Orme designed it as a response to a medical concept at the time called “Miasma Theory,” in which diseases are caused/carried by bad smells. The most lauded accessory was of course the bird mask. Beak), a plague doctor in seventeenth-century Rome, circa 1656. The canes were used to lift bed sheets, remove clothes, or even lash a sick citizen who got too close.Ĭopper engraving of Doctor Schnabel (i.e., Dr. They also carried wooden canes to inspect the infected while remaining at a safe distance. A thick black canvas dress coated with layers of wax covered the body, while a leather hat and pair of gloves guarded the head and hands. Plague Doctors were careful to assure each part of their body was covered, and their respiratory system had no chance of exposure to the disease, which at the time they believed was airborne. Plague doctors most notably had their pathogen-combating wardrobe.
Despite their ailing reputation as healthcare providers, throughout history they’ve taken on the role of something between a horror film antagonist, something crafted in the depths of sleep paralysis, and a foreboding macabre sex icon. Another notable Plague Doctor was French godfather of conspiracy theorem Nostradamus. One instance tells of a fruit vendor who took on the role of a plague doctor after his business went under when his employees and servants all died. Akin to a D-list plastic surgeon in Beverly Hills with a mountain of malpractice lawsuits, plague doctors generally had little to no experience in medicine, and often caused more harm than good. Though well intentioned (and impeccably styled by doctor and closet fashion designer Charles de L’Orme in 1619), the unfortunate truth is they were completely useless as medical practitioners.
Medico della Peste, or the infamous black-beaked plague doctors of Europe, have become a symbol for the Black Plague.