A 600-year-old Ming cup valued at £2m is being sold at a special auction.

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

It is valued at £2m 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 and 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 sale will take place at a special auction in Hong Kong on May 31.