Coin silver cup, pear shaped, with elaborate floral scroll repousse design to lip and body, engraved with a bird design and with Nashville Female Academy award inscription, "To Miss Mary B. Polk for the best copy of Landscape Painting in Oil Colors, N.F. Academy June 28, 1853." No maker's mark. 3-3/8"H, 3.38 oz troy. Provenance: purchased at the Polk-Yeatman-Whiteside auction in Columbia, Tennessee, July 31, 1999. Note: The Nashville Female Academy was founded in 1817. Its first principal was Dr. Daniel Berry, of Salem, Mass., and many young ladies from wealthy Tennessee families attended, learning subjects like literature, needlework, and as this cup attests, art. The Civil War caused the NFA to suspend operations temporarily in 1862, as Federal troops occupied the buildings. It finally closed in 1878. This cup was awarded to a young student from one of Middle Tennessee's most prominient families. Mary Brown Polk Yeatman, was born circa 1835 in Maury County (Columbia) Tennessee, the daughter of Tennessee representative and businessman Lucius Polk and Mary Eastin Polk (a favorite niece of President Andrew Jackson). She grew up at the plantation home known as Hamilton Place. Despite her apparent talent, Mary Brown Polk did not pursue an art career. She married Henry Clay Yeatman and had six children. She died at Hamilton Place in 1890. Provenance: Estate of Salli LaGrone, Franklin, Tennessee. Purchased at the Polk/Yeatman auction at Hamilton Place, July 31, 1999. Condition: Handle has been removed, some denting to footring.