Post #629874 by bigbrotiki on Sat, Mar 24, 2012 12:49 PM

I am sorry to say that I cannot concur on your classification of the very beautiful postcard above, DC. At first I thought they got the architecture wrong, with the upturned gables looking more Asian, but then I looked a the robes the people in the background are wearing, the flute and the drums...they seem more Pacific Asian than New Britain style. Here is the photo of the Duk Duk I used in Tiki Modern: The drum his attendant is holding is a hand drum in the traditional PNG hour glass shape:

I am particularly sensitive to this matter since to my embarrassment I had to correct the Tiki Modern assessment that Aloha Jhoe's logo Tiki was a Duk Duk mask (on the previous page here on TC):
http://www.tikicentral.com/viewtopic.php?topic=29418&forum=2&vpost=470058

...because as I was collecting Duk Duk images, I could not help noticing how rather UNIFORM the actual Duk Duk society masks were:

...and I had to realize that the Aloha Jhoe mask was SIMILAR in style, concept and geographic vicinity, but not Duk Duk specifically.
The dance costumes in your postcard are also similar, but differ in the fact that in Duk Duk costumes, the "plumage" does not cover the whole body, the face is never exposed, and there is a cartoony mask painted on them.

Here's an old illustration of a Duk Duk dance:

Unfortunately I was unable to find any imagery that matched the elements on your postcard. There is a remote possibility that all the above incongruities hail from the fact that it is an embellished fantasy based on a Duk Duk ceremony, but there seem to be too many specific differences present for that.

(---this info stamped with the official German Colonies Bismarck Archipelago Seal) :)