Pearl necklace with silk ribbon fastening worn by ballerina Marie Taglioni (1804-1884), probably on stage.

String of large artificial pearls, (pearlised glass) with attached silk ribbons at either side to make it a double string.

Cyril W. Beaumont Bequest

The necklace was possibly worn on stage by Marie Taglioni in the 1830s or 1840s.
It is one of several pearl necklaces or circlets owned by Marie Taglioni in the Cyril Beaumont Collection.
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, both from Taglioni herself and from her grandmother. 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.819-2001