While researching the black presence in an Adoration from the Victoria and Albert’s collection I came across an equivalent Adoration in St Peter's Ugborough , Devon.
The V&A’s black king is dressed in the height of early sixteenth century fashion reflecting the move away for the medieval draped past –the two white kings’ gowns - towards more elegant clothing with more width and mass, more padding and more surface complexity – the black king’s jacket.
The black king’s bright red braided jacket is not the conservative, austere drapery of the white kings. His gold belt and Mr T like gold chain further single him out as a flamboyant man of fashion, the characteristic, single gold earring adding that final touch of bling!
For style he would be at home with Cab Calaway, Little Richard, Michael Jackson, Mr T, 50 cents - black bling!
But the V&A’s early sixteenth century black King was not alone he had a brother in Ugborough.
The Ugborough Adoration panel is in poor condition but careful panel by panel comparison with the V&A’s Adoration indicates that its fourth panel is wrong – it’s not right and it’s not OK – all the other three panels are the virtually identical, the fourth Ugborough panel is wrong.
Ugborough has a fat white solider sword in one hand severed head in the other – these are not the attributes of the third King in the Adoration scene.
The fourth Ugborough panel would have been a King and the comparison indicates a black king looking very like the V&A’s black king – so he wasn’t alone he had an equally fully blinged brother in Ugborough…..maybe he has other early sixteenth century black brothers yet to be discovered elsewhere in England!
