It features some rare silverware and crystal as well as porcelain bearing the best French brand names.

It is a miniature museum of famous French museums due to its display of rare and unique artworks as well as handmade crystal and porcelain, which were used in France in the 18th and 19th centuries and later found their way into French museums.

Also on display were various types of crystal chandeliers made by skilled French artists, some of which adorned French palaces. A surprising feature of the opening by French ambassador in Saudi Arabia Bertrand Besancenot was the unveiling of several unique and precious pieces of pure crystal objects of a leading French brand.

French porcelain is displayed alongside the silverware and crystal sections. There are dozens of pieces in the collection.

Chinese porcelain was exported by the Mongols of the 9th and l0th centuries and utilized in the Ottoman palaces by the 14th century, but it was not until the discovery of kaolin, which is one of the basic ingredients of porcelain, near Colditz by the German chemist Bottger, in 1709-10 that hard clay porcelain started to be manufactured, and it soon captured the attention of Europeans.

Diplomatic gifts to the court during the period of monarchy included tableware and vases, an assortment of European ceramics, and a set of ceramic tableware, as well as ceramic vessels from French, Spanish and German factories.

“I specially flew in from Riyadh to meet with the lovers of such rare French objects,” the ambassador said.

“I do believe that the presence of our rare products in this mini-museum reflects the importance of Saudi taste for such French objects,” Haviland Group Chairman Haviland Amuyal said.

Rawae International Company for silverware and crystals, which runs the showroom, said its second such mini-museum will open in Riyadh with some other rare French objects sometime this year.

“The objects on display are luxury items. They are luxurious, but at the same time enjoyable, nice and relaxing to have,” a French art lover said.