A 600-year-old Ming cup which has been valued at £2 million is being sold at a special auction.

Edinburgh-based Lyon & Turnbull is holding an auction with their US partner Freeman's of Philadelphia in which the stem cup will be the star lot.

It is valued at £2 million and is part of a 270-piece collection that was given to Staffordshire University by a collector in 1944.

Lee Young, head of Asian art at Lyon & Turnbull, said: "The Ming Xuande (1426-35) mark and period blue and white Stem Cup is a rare masterpiece and, of its type, is virtually unseen outside museum collections.

"The motif of flying dragons was popular in the Yuan dynasty but was revived in the Xuande dynasty, as can be seen in this case.

"The fearsome five-clawed dragon flies amongst flames, chasing the eternally flaming pearl, above a sea with crashing waves tipped in white, with rocks seen around the base."

Staffordshire University is selling the cup to raise funds for a "resource centre" that will house an exhibition of the remaining pieces of the collection.

The cup will be sold at a special auction event in Hong Kong on May 31.