Now, 'Wright' says nothing wrong with auction

CHANDIGARH: A United States-based auction house, Wright, has decided to go ahead with the auction of 24 lots of furniture attributed to Le Corbusier and Pierre Jeanneret despite the ongoing controversy over Chandigarh's disappearing heritage.
The house's director, Richard Wright, said, ''Furniture from Chandigarh is prized internationally. I hope the visibility of our sales contribute to the future support and preservation of Chandigarh.'' He added: ''Our consignors are confidential, but I would refer you to the preface of the new book: 'Le Corbusier Pierre Jeanneret: The Indian Adventure'.It clearly describes the circumstances under which the Indian government organized the sale of this furniture.'' The auction is scheduled for March 31.
All items have been sourced from various government departments in Chandigarh, including Punjab and Haryana High Court, administrative buildings, PU and College of Architecture. Unlike the previous biddings, which only featured furniture designed by Jeanneret, the pieces taken from high court have been attributed to Corbusier. For instance, a pair of armchairs from Salle de Tribunal, high court, comes at an estimated price of $15,000-20,000. A red-black lounge chair made of teak and taken from PU has been pegged at $20,000-25,000 and the cost of a desk from the administrative buildings, Chandigarh, has been fixed between $7,000-9,000. The same auction house had held a successful bidding of Jeanneret-designed furniture from Chandigarh on June 8, 2010, selling a pair of lounge chairs from PU for $51,250 against an estimated price of $30,000-40,000.