I need help with a folk art cradle i think newer but it may be an old cradle pained 40 years ago

[rsmanx]

[rsmanx]

Hi I think that the cradle is old but the painting is newer.   I just want someone to tell me if they agree with me about the time frames.  I think the cradle may  have been painted in the 80's.   The work is good and interesting.  Thanks in advance for your  help. 

[maxine*j · Accepted solution]

I can't get any sense of the piece as a whole, and I can't tell if it's for a child or a doll.  

Overall, it looks like it was home-made and home-decorated by someone who was neither a skillful woodworker nor painter.  I think the cradle and the decoration were done by the same person, because the level of the workmanship is the same.  I'd say the 1980s is a fair guess for it, given the cut-outs in the headboard and the choices in the "folky" motifs. 

I think that regardless of the fact that it's rather clumsily made and painted, it was done with love.

[divwido]

I think the 'artwork' is going to scare a child. I would sand it down and start over.

[argon38]

I think the decoration could easily be 1970s, but I'm not really sure who would want it. It is very grimy and (worse) possibly mouldy. Mould spores are the last thing you want in a child's cradle.