£2m Ming cup to be sold by Staffordshire University

The cup (pictured centre) has been valued at £2m and is due to be auctioned next year

A 600-year-old china Ming cup, valued at about £2m, is to be sold by Staffordshire University.

The Stem Cup, which dates back to about 1425, was the most valuable of more than 250 items bequeathed to the university by Ernest Thornhill in 1944.

The value of the artefacts means the university cannot afford to securely exhibit the collection, and the money raised by selling the cup will go towards building a new display centre.

It is due to be auctioned next year.

Deputy vice-chancellor of the university, Rosy Crehan, said: "It is clear from the bequest that Ernest Thornhill intended his collection to be used as a study resource.

"We envisage that proceeds from the sale of the Stem Cup will enable us to comply with the original bequest and give our students full and proper access to this historically significant collection of oriental ceramics - some of which are dated to be over 3,000 years old."

The collection contains Chinese wares along with some Korean and Japanese pieces.

Ernest Thornhill was a pharmacist from London who collected Oriental ceramics.

He donated several pieces to the British Museum as well as the then-North Staffordshire Technical College, which became part of the university in 1992.