Jean Prouve sun shutter to make $120,000 at Phillips' Design sale?

A sun-shutter designed by Jean Prouve for the Union Aeromaritime de Transport in Conakry, Guinea could make $80,000-120,000 at Phillips in New York on December 17.

A significant French architect and designer, Prouve (1901-1984) began his career as a blacksmith in the city of Nancy - later becoming an industrial designer and working alongside a variety of well-known architects and agencies.

Jean Prouve sun shutter
The shutter was installed in an airport in Conakry, Guinea in the 1950s

The shutter was produced in collaboration with Les Ateliers for the airstrip in Conakry, and is made from aluminium sheet and steel.

It is one of just 20 examples known to exist.

The record for a work by Prouve was set at $5m at Christie's New York in 2007 for a Maison Tropicale - a flat packed aluminium house designed for use in tropical climes that was produced in response to a housing shortage in French colonial Africa.

A dining table by Swiss designer Pierre Jeanneret (1896-1967) carries an identical valuation of $80,000-120,000.

Pierrer Jeanneret teak table
 Jeanneret produced the table for a medical school in Chandigarh, India

Jeanneret is best known for his collaborations with his cousin, the famous modernist Le Corbusier, with whom he worked on the plan for the city of Chandigarh in India.

The table is from the halls of residence of the Post Graduate Institute of Medical Education and Research in Chandigarh - which opened in 1962.

Other pieces in the sale will include a Jean Royere Ondulation table, which will be sold as a single lot along with four Baltique side chairs, valued at $70,000-90,000.

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