This calligraphic couplet was written by Jin Yong 金庸 (Louis Cha, 1924–2018) in the summer of 1994 (jiaxu year). The text reads:
“Only a deep bow can wear away one’s pride;
Only half-drunkenness can wash away heroic ambition.”
Inscribed: “Summer of Jiaxu (1994), respectfully written by Jin Yong.”
The work is executed in regular script on pink speckled-gold paper. Although written in a formal script, the brushwork remains heavy and restrained, yet still carries an idiosyncratic energy that reveals the author’s unconventional spirit. In this sense, the calligraphy closely accords with the mood and meaning of the couplet itself.
The text was originally written by the late Ming and early Qing literary critic Jin Shengtan 金聖歎 (1608–1661), whose original work is now preserved in the Shanghai Museum. Jin Shengtan remains one of the most influential figures in Chinese literary criticism. He is especially known for his editions and commentaries on The Water Margin and The Romance of the Western Chamber. His seventy-chapter edition of The Water Margin became the standard version read for centuries, and his idea of the “Six Books of Genius” elevated fiction and drama to the level of classical literature.
The couplet itself is simple, but deeply revealing. “Pride” and “heroic ambition” were qualities traditionally admired in Chinese scholars and men of talent. Yet Jin Shengtan writes of wearing them down, softening them through humility, wine, and distance from worldly struggle. The lines do not express defeat, but rather a kind of clarity that comes after experience.
It is not difficult to understand why Jin Yong chose to write these words.
Jin Yong was not only the most influential martial arts novelist of the twentieth century, but also a deeply traditional literary figure. Through works such as The Legend of the Condor Heroes, The Return of the Condor Heroes, The Smiling, Proud Wanderer, and The Deer and the Cauldron, he reshaped modern Chinese ideas of heroism, loyalty, and the jianghu world. At the same time, he was also a newspaper founder, political commentator, and later a scholar of Chinese history at Cambridge University.
In many ways, Jin Yong and Jin Shengtan belong to the same intellectual tradition. Both entered the center of Chinese literary history through forms once considered “popular literature.” Both were concerned with the tension between individual character and the pressures of society. And both carried the spirit of the traditional Chinese literatus into new historical worlds.
The provenance of this work is particularly important. It comes from the collection of Professor Tse-tsung Chow 周策縱 (1916–2008), distinguished scholar of modern Chinese literature and longtime professor in the Department of East Asian Languages and Literature at the University of Wisconsin–Madison. The couplet was written by Jin Yong at Professor Chow’s request.
Another work in the same June Gallery Auction shares the same provenance: a calligraphy presented to Professor Chow by the celebrated Chinese poet Ai Qing 艾青 (1910–1996). Together, these works reflect Professor Chow’s close relationship with major literary and intellectual figures of the twentieth-century Chinese-speaking world, while also documenting the important cultural exchanges between Chinese writers and overseas East Asian studies programs.
Therefore, this work brings together three figures from different moments in Chinese cultural history: Jin Shengtan of the seventeenth century, Jin Yong of modern Hong Kong, and Professor Tse-tsung Chow of the American academy. Across several centuries, the Chinese literati tradition reappears here in just fourteen characters.
{Each: H 50 x W 13 inches (128 x 34 cm)}
此幅对联为金庸（1924–2018）于1994年甲戌夏所书，全文曰：
“消磨傲骨惟长揖，洗落雄心在半酣。”
款署：“甲戌夏，金庸谨题。”
作品以楷书写于粉红洒金纸之上。书风平稳含蓄，虽是楷体，笔墨厚拙，可见作者奇崛之气，与联语本身的意味十分契合。
此联原为明末清初文学家金圣叹（1608–1661）所书，原作现藏上海博物馆。金圣叹是中国文学史上极具影响力的人物，以评点《水浒传》《西厢记》闻名。他重新整理《水浒传》七十回本，使之成为后世最流行的版本，并提出“六才子书”之说，将小说、戏曲与传统经典并列，对于中国文学观念影响极深。
“消磨傲骨惟长揖，洗落雄心在半酣”，是很典型的金圣叹语言。它表面平淡，却有很深的人生意味。“傲骨”与“雄心”，是古代士人最难放下的东西；而“长揖”“半酣”，则带有一种退一步后的清醒与自我消解。不是完全消沉，也不是愤世嫉俗，而是一种经历世事之后的平静。
金庸题写这一联，并非偶然。
金庸不仅是武侠小说家，也是深受传统文化影响的现代文人。他创作《射雕英雄传》《神雕侠侣》《笑傲江湖》《鹿鼎记》等作品，对二十世纪华语文化影响极大。与此同时，他长期办报、撰写政论，晚年又赴剑桥大学研究中国历史。
从某种意义上说，金庸与金圣叹有相通之处。两人都以“通俗文学”进入中国文学史核心；两人都关心人格、自由与现实之间的关系；也都带有传统中国文人的气质。金圣叹以评点小说改变后世阅读方式，金庸则以武侠小说重新塑造现代人的江湖想象。
本件作品来源亦十分重要，曾为周策纵教授（1916–2008）旧藏。周策纵为美国威斯康星大学麦迪逊分校东亚语言文学系（Department of East Asian Languages and Literature, UW–Madison）著名教授，是二十世纪重要的中国现代文学研究学者。此联即为金庸应周策纵之请所书。
值得注意的是，本次 June Gallery Auction 中，还有一件同一来源的重要作品——中国著名诗人艾青（1910–1996）赠予周策纵教授的书法。两件作品皆由同一藏家提供，不仅反映出周策纵与二十世纪华人文化界的重要联系，也保存了海外汉学世界与中国现代文学之间真实而珍贵的交流历史。
因此，此件同时连接了金圣叹、金庸、周策纵三位不同时代的人物：一个是晚明才子，一个是现代武侠宗师，一个是海外汉学重镇中的中国学者。几百年间，中国文人的精神与文化传统，最终在这一联十四字之中，再次相遇。
（每幅）高50英寸，宽13英寸（128 × 34厘米）
For condition report, please contact the Asian Art Department.
