Two Studies of an elaborately decorated Cradle

As Charles Dumas has kindly pointed out, the crowned eagles with spread wings indicate that the cradle depicted was intended for a member of the Hohenzollern family. Refering to the date 1707 Dumas points out that the present drawing could be a design for a cradle commissioned by the City of Turnhout as a present to Friedrich Wilhelm I von Preussen (1688-1740) and his wife Sophie Dorothea (1687-1757), who married in 1706. Their children Wilhelmine and Friedrich II were born in 1709 and 1712 respectively, and therefore the cradle could have been intended for a child expected in 1707 that never lived, or the design was not accepted. The City of Turnhout commissioned De Cock to design a frame for a portrait of King Friedrich I and a carved coat of arms of the same in or around 1712, still in Turnhout now. Turnhout was connected to the Hohenzollern family through Friedrich Wilhelm I of Preussen's title of Baron of Turnhout.