The teak and cane office chairs on V-shaped legs, the low armchairs, the desks and shelving units designed for Chandigarh have become sought-after pieces over the past twenty years or so. Their history explains why authenticating them calls for caution. Made locally, in quantity, with no manufacturer's name and no label, they left India in circumstances that produced few documents, and they are widely copied today. This article sets out what is established, then the clues a buyer can cross-check. None of them is enough on its own.
A new city, a fifteen-year building site
After partition in 1947, Indian Punjab lost Lahore and needed a new capital. In 1951 Le Corbusier was commissioned to plan Chandigarh and design the main buildings of the Capitol. His cousin and former partner Pierre Jeanneret moved there the same year, alongside the British architects Maxwell Fry and Jane Drew.
Jeanneret stayed until 1965. He ran the site day to day and designed many buildings himself. He died in Geneva in 1967, and in keeping with his wishes his ashes were immersed in Sukhna Lake, in Chandigarh. In 2016 the Capitol Complex was inscribed on the UNESCO World Heritage List together with other works by Le Corbusier.
Furniture made on the spot
To furnish the government offices, the High Court, the Assembly, the university and civil servants' housing, Jeanneret designed chairs, armchairs, desks, tables, shelving and benches. They were made by local workshops, in solid teak and more rarely in sissoo, an Indian rosewood, with seats and backs that were often caned. The joints are simple to cut in a workshop, and the sections are generous.
Not every piece from Chandigarh is by Jeanneret. Some are attributed to Le Corbusier, others to architects on the team, and the attribution of a few models is still debated. As for the names under which this furniture is sold today, "office chair", "committee chair" or "kangaroo chair", many are dealers' names that appeared long after the pieces were made.
How the furniture left India
In the late 1990s and the 2000s, some of this furniture, worn out or considered old-fashioned, was set aside by the administrations and sold off in lots, sometimes as scrap. Dealers, mostly European, bought, restored and resold it in large quantities, and that is how today's market came about. These sales are contested in Chandigarh, where voices are regularly raised against the dispersal of this heritage abroad.
For a buyer, the consequence is straightforward: the provenance of a genuine piece is often documented from its arrival in Europe, and seldom before.
Stencilled markings
Institutional furniture generally carried an inventory number painted through a stencil, often in white, preferably on the back or a side. The marking combines an abbreviation for the institution, sometimes a building or department code, and a number entered in the administration's registers: "H.C.", for instance, stands for the High Court.
Three caveats apply. Marking was not systematic, and many numbers have worn away. Furniture in private houses carried none. And a stencil is easy to reproduce. A legible number is therefore not proof, and its absence does not rule a piece out. What matters is whether it fits the rest of the piece: a crisp, fresh marking on heavily worn wood raises questions.
Wood, joints, wear
- The wood. A Chandigarh piece is solid wood on every face, including the back and the underside of the seat. Veneer or plywood in a hidden part should put you on guard.
- The joints. Expect mortise and tenon joints and wooden pegs. Visible screws usually point to a later repair, which the seller should explain.
- The wear. Decades of service leave localised marks: arms polished where hands rest, feet worn by the floor, knocks on the lower edges. Even wear spread over every surface looks more like artificial ageing.
- The caning. It has very often been redone. New caning is not a fault in itself, but it should be disclosed, like any restoration: sanding, refinishing, a replaced part.
Reissues and copies
Two kinds of new pieces circulate alongside the originals. Since 2019, Cassina has produced several Chandigarh models in its "Hommage à Pierre Jeanneret" collection. These reissues carry the manufacturer's marking and are sold as what they are. Separately, many reproductions are made, in India in particular. Some are openly sold as copies. Others are aged, and some are given a fake stencil so as to pass for originals.
What to ask before buying
Provenance outweighs everything else. Ask for the piece's history: which institution it came from, when and by whom it was imported, which dealer or auction it passed through. An invoice from an identifiable dealer or auction house, a sale catalogue and export papers form a chain that can be checked. Ask for the list of restorations too. Without these documents, no seller can guarantee an attribution, whatever the piece looks like.
At LAPIERRE MARKET
We only take Chandigarh pieces when an identifiable third party documents their provenance. Biographical landmarks are gathered on the Pierre Jeanneret profile, and the sell a piece page sets out what we buy and how we examine it.
By
LAPIERRE MARKET
