According to Sirelius (U.T.: The Ryijy Rugs of Finland, Helsinki, 1926) the field design of a lozenge lattice is one of the oldest of all the designs that appear on these weavings. Early inventories from before the sixteenth century indicate that the earliest ryas of all were plain, possibly with a differently coloured border. From the sixteenth century onwards examples are mentioned with simple geometric designs, as found here. The most frequent colours mentioned in the earliest periods are also 'red lake or green, less often blue' (p.48). By the early 18th century a wide variety of colours was possible (cf. Sirelius: op. cit., pl.I, dated to 1711). The present example, with its border of simplified floral sprays, is similar to various examples illustrated by Sirelius; unfortunately none of these are dated. One double-sided example however, has on one side an almost identical field on a blue ground in a border of lozenges and is dated 1806 (Sirelius: op.cit., pl.VI).