UT’s junk a money spinner for UK-based auction house

CHANDIGARH: While the UT Administration had discarded the old furniture designed by Le Corbusier’s cousin Pierre Jeanneret, the London-based Phillips Auction House earned thousands of pounds from the auction of the heritage furniture, which was held on Thursday (October 1).

Tribune News Service

Chandigarh, October 2

While the UT Administration had discarded the old furniture designed by Le Corbusier’s cousin Pierre Jeanneret, the London-based Phillips Auction House earned thousands of pounds from the auction of the heritage furniture, which was held on Thursday (October 1).

The auction house website reveals that there were seven furniture items designed by Pierre Jeanneret, a cousin of Le Corbusier, which were put under the hammer. Out of these seven lots, three furniture items were auctioned for £97,500 (Rs 97 lakh)

A pair of committee armchairs designed for the Punjab and Haryana High Court was auctioned for £25,000. The auctioned house had estimated price of £20,000-30,000 for this furniture item but it went for £25,000 (Rs 24 lakh in Indian rupees).

Besides, a coffee table designed for a private apartment from the city fetched £47,500. Similarly, another pair of committee armchairs from an administrative building of the city also fetched £25,000 in the auction.

There were four heritage items of the city that could find no buyer in the auction, including a bookcase, square table, a set of four library chairs and a folding screen.

The heritage furniture designed by Le Corbusier’s cousin Pierre Jeanneret was discarded by the UT Administration and residents in the 80s and 90s.

Pierre Jeanneret had designed chairs, tables, stools and racks for government offices in the late 50s. However, the furniture was replaced in the late 80s and early 90s. After dumping the heritage items in the backyards and stores, most of the departments of the UT Administration had auctioned these as a part of junk, unaware of their international worth.

During his stay in Chandigarh, Jeanneret designed several pieces of furniture. Some of the prototypes are present at the Government Museum and Art Gallery, Sector 10. Jeanneret used the furniture in the house he stayed in at Sector 5. He was so fond of the city that according to his wish, his ashes were immersed in the Sukhna Lake after his death.