Mike Wilks' jigsaw: 'The letter A' 1982

Helena and I have just finished this jigsaw which we both enjoyed very much. The detail is fascinating with vivid colour and interesting details all illustrating the idea of 'The Ultimate Alphabet: The letter A'. 

I have always been interested in alchemy and in particular it's association with psychological processes as Carl Jung amongst many others has sought to show. 

At first I thought this was a melange of alchemical iconography and archetypical imagery. But the artist has actually explained on the box and accompanying paperwork that all the subjects shown have names beginning with the first letter of the alphabet. They are all itemised on a sheet of paper with numbers for each subject. No 102 is listed as 'ALCHEMIST  Medieval magician and philosopher'. There are 361 objects listed.

When Helena said she was going to put the jigsaw 'back in the box' I said I wanted to blip it. It measures 69 cms by 51 cms, which is quite large. Thus it was that late in the evening I stood on a chair and trying not to wobble I took a couple of shots in the rather limited light. I hope you can see and possibly appreciate some of its delights. I think Helena will be getting another of this artist's work, as a jigsaw at least.