[65] A Turned Mahogany Brass and Ivory Rastrum or Raster a Five Pointed Writing Implement used in Scoring Music Manuscripts Late 18th Century
s i z e : 17 cm long – 6¾ ins long Rastrum are used to draw parallel staff lines when drawn horizontally across a blank piece of sheet music. Prior to the manufacture of printed staff paper in the 19th century, the manuscript page was not pre-ruled and so rastrum were used. The word is derived from the Latin for rake and the study of the use of the rastrum became known as rastrology, a study which can provide valuable information in dating and finding the provenance of antique musical manuscripts. A variant was used by the Russian composer Igor Stravinsky (1882–1971) in his compositional sketchbooks. It was called the stravigor a wheeled instrument which he attempted to patent in 1911.