Needle case made by the ballerina Marie Taglioni (1804-1884). Silk and flannel with needles

Octagonal needlecase formed of stiffening with outer cover of fine silk 'tartan' in pink and dark blue on a white ground; around the edge are minute pins. The case opens centre front to reveal a lining of fine silk striped blue and white with dark blue banding and, fixed to the inner back, flannel to hold the needles and a paper needle case.

Cyril W. Beaumont Bequest

The needle case came to the Museum with an attached note in Margaret Rolfe's hand: "This needle-book was made by Madame Taglioni and given by her to Mademoiselle Müller who was pianist at the dancing class 6 Conaught Square. Danny persuaded her to swap it for something much grander. Now it belongs to me. Margaret Amy Rolfe." Danny was Mrs Boggs Rolfe, Margaret Rolfe's grandmother.
The needle case is part of a unique collection of memorabilia and personal effects which evoke Marie Taglioni in the last decades of her life. She was a keen needlewoman and the collection contains both examples of her own work and her personal sewing accessories.
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, after Taglioni's death, from her niece, Marguerite Troubetzkoi. 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.20-1987