Cross worn by ballerina Marie Taglioni (1804-1884) at her confirmation. Tortoise shell and gold

Cross in tortoiseshell set with tiny gold circles each with a central spot with small gold hanging ring at the top.

Cyril W. Beaumont Bequest

The cross came with an accompanying note in Margaret Rolfe's hand: "This cross (S.9-1987) also the tiny cross (S.10-1987) belonged to Marie Taglioini when she was a girl. She wore them at her confirmation. Belongs now to Margaret Rolfe."
The cross is part of a unique collection of memorabilia and personal effects which evoke Marie Taglioni in the last decades of her life.
A collection of Taglioni memorabilia was amassed by Margaret Rolfe, the granddaughter of Taglioni's closest friend in London, Mrs Boggs Rolfe; she attended Taglioni's dancing classes and received many gifts of Taglioni memorabilia, from Taglioni herself, from her grandmother and from Taglioni's niece, Marguerite Troubetzkoi, after Taglioni's death. She kept these, with a series of related notes, in various boxes and annotated envelopes (filed separately). These she passed to Cyril Beaumont, probably for the London Archives of the Dance (a number of the objects were referred to in "The London Archives of the Dance and some of its Treasures" by Cyril Beaumont, Ballet Annual, first issue, Adam & Charles Black, London, 1947, p110); the Archives never achieved an independent home and part of the collection, including the Taglioni memorabilia, was stored with Cyril Beaumont, where it became inextricably mixed with his own collection and came to the Museum as part of the Cyril Beaumont Bequest.

S.10-1987