4 Corbusier creations go for Rs 1 cr in US auction

Aditi Tandon

Tribune News Service

New Delhi, June 10

Designer furniture Le Corbusier and his cousin Pierre Jeanneret created for Chandigarh has, once again, fetched handsome returns in the international market.

At an auction of the duo’s Indian creations held at New York-based Phillips auction house last night, four pieces of Corbusier-Jeanneret’s furniture went for Rs 110.20 lakh, a little over Rs 1 crore.

Of the nine pieces lined up for auction, four were sold, including Corbusier and Jeanneret’s sofa model designed for the High Court and Assembly buildings of Chandigarh; Jeanneret’s console tables designed for the city’s administrative buildings; Jeanneret’s committee chairs for the High Court and administrative buildings and Jeanneret’s square table for city’s cafeterias and administrative buildings.

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Amid continuing practice of giving away Chandigarh heritage in scrap and its consequent entry into international traders and auctions, UT’s Heritage Protection Cell is learnt to be mulling ways of preserving the precious 20th century artifacts.

Ajay Jagga, member of the heritage cell and the original petitioner in this matter, has circulated a note in the committee urging Chandigarh Administration to ask the Centre to declare Corbusier’s design heritage comprising furniture, fixtures and manholes as art treasures. This will automatically make their international sale an offence.

At present, there is no specific law in place to address the challenge. “When I first raised the issue of auction of Chandigarh heritage abroad, the administration told me they did not have space to store these items which is why they were being sold as scrap. We have now recommended for Chandigarh a heritage village on the lines of the one in Dubai.

“Parallel to that, the cell is debating how to ensure the notification of Corbusier’s architectural designs as art treasures under The Antiquities and Art Treasures Act 1972.  Once notified, the sale of these items will become an offence and the licensing of interested traders will become mandatory,” Jagga told The Tribune today. The Heritage Protection Cell of Chandigarh is, meanwhile, posted of thefts of Corbusier’s drawings from the city.