A geometric second quarter 20th-century Scandinavian rug, the light brownfield with folk-inspired gold and ivory floral motifs framed by a similar ivory border within a thin light brown stripe. Swedish flatweave rug by Irma Kronlund The traditional Scandinavian antique rug is the rya, made from hand-knotted wool. Dating from the fifteenth century, the first antique ryas were coarse, long-piled heavy coverlets used by fishermen instead of furs. By the eighteenth-century ryas, vintage carpet bags were generally part of a woman's trousseau and proudly displayed as important status symbols within the home. By the nineteenth century, Swedish ryas were usurped by the arrival of quilted coverlets from continental Europe and from then on were woven as purely ornamental elements.