2 min readChandigarhFeb 10, 2025 09:06 AM IST
First published on: Feb 10, 2025 at 09:05 AM IST
A teak triangular coffee table designed by Swiss-French architect Pierre Jeanneret is all set to go under the hammer with the reserve price kept up to Rs 5.43 lakh. The auction will be conducted in the Netherlands on 15 February.
The solid teak wood triangle coffee table with round edges, on three log-type legs had been designed for Jeanneret’s private apartment in Chandigarh.
The estimated reserve price has been kept in the range of 4,000 euros – 6,000 euros, which comes to is Rs 3,62,100 – Rs 5,43,150.
Advocate Ajay Jagga, who keeps taking up the issues related to Indian heritage items, has written a communique to S Jaishankar, Union Minister for External Affairs, citing protection of national heritage (Chandigarh Heritage Articles) from being auctioned all over the world.
“In response to my earlier representations on this same topic, the Ministry of Culture took action and asked the agencies like ASI to look into the matter and some action was taken. However, the Ministry of External Affairs (MEA) is yet to take cognizance of this matter and some remedial measures. So again, I am submitting this communication to intimate regarding the auction of our VIRASAT (legacy) (article from Chandigarh),” he said in the letter.
His letter added that articles are being auctioned regularly in foreign countries without any “resistance” from the Government of India. “It is requested that the Indian embassies in foreign countries must be sensitised about our heritage so that wherever information comes to them, they can at least raise an objection, which may sustain or not, to save the heritage,” Jagga wrote. The advocate went on to say that the ongoing auctions can be stopped only through diplomatic channels and brought back, as they were taken out from the country in an “illegal manner”.
“Moreover, when the Ministry of Home Affairs issued the prohibitory orders regarding furniture items of Chandigarh, putting a STOP on the sale, export, shift, move on these items, how it reached NETHERLANDS, is also a matter of investigation, as to how it crossed the boundaries of India,” Jagga said.
Swiss-French architect Pierre Jeanneret. (Credit: Wikimedia Commons) 
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