Princeton Today: Jar Full of Tea

chigusaGood morning on this wet Thursday. Just when several area roads were beginning to flood around 6 a.m., water levels began to drop.Washington Road at the Tennis Center in West Windsor was closed briefly and reopened at 6:20 a.m. As of 7:50 a.m. the jughandle at Route 1 South at Raymond Road is closed due to flooding.. We will update this post later in the morning.

In celebration of the opening of the Princeton University Art Museum’s “Chigusa and the Art of Tea in Japan,” Louise Cort, curator of ceramics at the Smithsonian’s Freer and Sackler Galleries, will visit Princeton today to discuss Chigusa and the exhibition it inspired. A special reception in the art galleries will follow the talk, which begins at 5:30 p.m. at the museum. The exhibit runs until Feb. 1.

This exhibition features a tea-leaf storage jar named Chigusa that was made in China in the late thirteenth or fourteenth century and spent the next seven hundred years in Japan, where it was used as a jar for storing tea leaves. The exhibition explores the ways of appreciating, displaying, using, and documenting this prestigious Chinese antique turned tea jar.

WHYY ran a nice piece about the exhibit on Oct. 14 called Humbled Tea Vessel in a Class of Its Own at Princeton Museum.

WEATHER

Chance of more showers today, high of 75.

EVENTS

Princeton Farmers’ Market – Visit Hinds Plaza on Witherspoon Street in downtown Princeton between 11 a.m. and 4 p.m. for vegetables, cheese, breads, baked goods, flowers, chocolates, jams, and more. Music from noon to 2:30 p.m. Rain or shine. Free.

Photographer Arthur Ou Visits Princeton University – Photographer Arthur Ou of the Parsons New School for Design will give a lecture at 12:30 p.m. in the Stewart Theater, 185 Nassau St. The event is part of the “Photography: Before and After” Visiting Artist lecture series sponsored by the Program in Visual Arts and the Program in American Studies at Princeton University. Free.

What Literature is Good For – The Princeton Environmental Institute lecture series “What Arts and Humanities Are Good For” will continue with “What Literature Is Good For” at 4:30 p.m. in Guyot Hall, Room 10, Princeton University. Panelists include William Gleason, professor of English; Rob Nixon of the University of Wisconsin-Madison; and Stephanie Lemenager of the University of Oregon.

Wines of the World – Relaxed, cocktail style event at Salt Creek Grille with a selection of wines from Italy, The United States, South America, Iberia, France, and more. 6 p.m. to 9 p.m., 1 Rockingham Row, Plainsboro. $39 per person.

COMMUTE

As of 7:30 a.m. trains in and out of New York are running 20 minutes behind schedule due to an Amtrak switch problem.

Princeton – Random Road slated to be closed today between 7 a.m. and 5 p.m. to allow for milling and paving. Detours will be in place.

Linden Lane slated to be closed today between Hamilton Ave. and Spruce St. from 9 a.m. to 2:30 p.m. for sewer work. Detours will be in place.

Lawrence – Princeton Pike slated to be one-lane only from Lenox Drive to Fackler Road for road work again. Unclear if this will still take place.

Hillsborough – Nighttime Road paving on So Branch Road between Beekman/River & Amwell Rd bet Woods/Clerico. Expect delays.

IN THE NEWS

Former New York Times Executive Editor Jill Abramson to Speak at Princeton University Next Month

Princeton YMCA Presents Two Rare Martin Luther King, Jr. Items to Public Library and Seminary

Second Nurse with Ebola Flew Frontier Airlines from Cleveland to Dallas, Had No Symptoms

More Dalai Lama Tickets for Princeton University Talk to Be Available in Lottery

How to Tackle Ebola’s Tough Ethical Questions (Princeton University)