In the period just before the southern Netherlands became the dominant force in the sixteenth-century European print market, a small number of artists active in Antwerp and Mechelen began making works that explored the expressive potential of the copper plate. Crabbe and his contemporaries, inspired by a visit to the Netherlands in 1521 by the consummate printmaker Albrecht Dürer, created small images that experimented with the medium.

Most striking among the rare works attributed to Crabbe is an arresting engraving known only by this impression. He delineated the varied tones of the figure's dark skin with concentric lines that encircle the eye. The detail in this tiny print is remarkable, from the small hairs along the edge of the chin and neck to the veins in the forehead. This is the first depiction of a black man as an independent subject in European prints and possibly in all of northern European art. Not likely a portrait, the figure has a generalized character; it may have been intended to represent the African king, one of the Magi, who was often depicted at this time with a long jeweled earring.