---
title: "Tempera and Resin — AP Art History Definition & Exam Guide"
description: "Tempera and resin is the medium of the Screen with the Siege of Belgrade, blending European painting with a glossy, Asian lacquer-style finish via global trade."
canonical: "https://fiveable.me/ap-art-history/key-terms/tempera-and-resin"
type: "key-term"
subject: "AP Art History"
unit: "Unit 8"
---

# Tempera and Resin — AP Art History Definition & Exam Guide

## Definition

Tempera and resin is the mixed painting medium of the Screen with the Siege of Belgrade and Hunting Scene (c. 1697-1701, New Spain), combining European egg-based tempera painting with shiny resin coats that imitate the lacquered surfaces of Asian folding screens.

## What It Is

Tempera and resin describes the [materials](/ap-art-history/unit-2/cultural-contexts-ancient-mediterranean-art/study-guide/KhkvkmZbJ8zV8aWNPu0J "fv-autolink") of one specific work in the AP image set, the *[Screen with the Siege of Belgrade and Hunting Scene](/ap-art-history/key-terms/screen-with-the-siege-of-belgrade-and-hunting-scene "fv-autolink")*, attributed to the Circle of the González family and made in Mexico City around 1697-1701. Tempera is a fast-drying paint where pigment is bound with egg, the same technique European painters used for centuries before oil paint took over. Resin is a clear, glossy plant-based coating brushed over the painted wood panels, and on this screen it also works with shell inlay to make the surface shimmer.

The combination is the whole point. The screen is a *[biombo](/ap-art-history/key-terms/biombo "fv-autolink")*, a folding-screen format borrowed from Japanese *byōbu* screens that arrived in New Spain on Manila Galleon trade ships. Artists in Mexico didn't have access to true Asian lacquer (made from tree sap unavailable in the Americas), so they used resin finishes to fake that luxurious lacquered look on top of familiar European tempera painting. The medium itself is evidence of a Pacific trade network connecting Asia, the Americas, and Europe.

## Why It Matters

This term sits in Topic 8.1, Materials, Processes, and Techniques in South, East, and Southeast Asian Art ([Unit 8](/ap-art-history/unit-8 "fv-autolink")), and supports learning objective 8.1.A, which asks you to explain how materials, processes, and techniques affect art and art making. Tempera and resin is a perfect test case for that objective because the materials don't just create the image, they carry the meaning. The European [tempera](/ap-art-history/key-terms/tempera "fv-autolink") says "Spanish colonial painting tradition," while the resin finish and folding-screen format say "Asian luxury import." The CED stresses that Asian art forms developed in a wide range of media and spread widely (MPT-1.A.25), and this screen shows an Asian medium and format being adapted halfway around the world. When the exam asks how materials reflect cultural exchange, this is one of the cleanest examples in the entire 250.

## Connections

### [Japanese woodblock printing (Unit 8)](/ap-art-history/key-terms/japanese-woodblock-printing)

Both show Japanese visual culture traveling outward through trade. The screen's biombo format comes directly from Japanese byōbu folding screens, just as woodblock prints later circulated globally and influenced European artists.

### [High-fire porcelain (Unit 8)](/ap-art-history/key-terms/high-fire-porcelain)

[Porcelain](/ap-art-history/key-terms/porcelain "fv-autolink") was the other Asian luxury good Europeans and colonial Americans couldn't replicate. The resin finish on the screen is like Europe's porcelain chase, a local workaround to imitate a coveted Asian surface.

### [Layering (Unit 8)](/ap-art-history/key-terms/layering)

Resin coats are applied in built-up layers, the same logic behind true Asian [lacquerware](/ap-art-history/key-terms/lacquerware "fv-autolink"). Each layer adds depth and gloss, which is exactly the effect González family artists were imitating.

### [Jahangir Preferring a Sufi Shaikh to Kings (Unit 8)](/ap-art-history/key-terms/jahangir-preferring-a-sufi-shaikh-to-kings)

Another painting where the technique itself records cross-cultural contact. Mughal artists absorbed European conventions through trade and diplomacy, just as New Spanish artists absorbed Asian formats through the Manila Galleons.

## On the AP Exam

This term showed up on the real exam. The 2024 Long Essay Question 1 used the Screen with the Siege of Belgrade and Hunting Scene as a stimulus image, asking for a full comparison-style analysis. To earn points with this term, identification isn't enough. You need to explain how the medium works (tempera painting on wood panels, finished with glossy resin and shell inlay) and then connect it to function and context, specifically that the resin imitates Asian lacquer and the folding-screen format imitates Japanese byōbu, proving New Spain's place in Pacific trade networks. In multiple choice, expect stems about how materials reflect cultural exchange or why an artist chose a particular technique. The winning move is always materials → effect → meaning, not just naming the medium.

## tempera and resin vs True Asian lacquer (urushi)

Real Asian lacquer is made from the sap of the lacquer tree, applied in dozens of thin layers, and was impossible to produce in the Americas because the tree doesn't grow there. The resin on the González screen is a substitute, a different material chosen to mimic lacquer's glossy effect. If you call the screen "lacquered" on an FRQ, you've misidentified the medium; say tempera and resin imitating Asian lacquer instead.

## Key Takeaways

- Tempera and resin is the medium of the Screen with the Siege of Belgrade and Hunting Scene, made in Mexico City around 1697-1701 by artists in the Circle of the González family.
- Tempera is egg-based paint from the European tradition, while the resin coating imitates the glossy surface of Asian lacquer, which couldn't be made in the Americas.
- The folding-screen (biombo) format comes from Japanese byōbu screens that reached New Spain through the Manila Galleon trade across the Pacific.
- The medium itself is evidence for learning objective 8.1.A, because the choice of materials directly shows cross-cultural exchange between Asia, Europe, and the Americas.
- The 2024 LEQ Question 1 used this screen as a stimulus, so be ready to analyze its materials, format, and trade context, not just identify them.

## FAQs

### What is tempera and resin in AP Art History?

It's the painting [medium](/ap-art-history/key-terms/medium "fv-autolink") of the Screen with the Siege of Belgrade and Hunting Scene (c. 1697-1701, New Spain). Tempera is egg-based paint in the European tradition, and resin is a glossy finish that imitates Asian lacquer, often paired with shell inlay on this screen.

### Is the Screen with the Siege of Belgrade actually lacquered?

No. True Asian lacquer comes from a tree sap unavailable in the Americas, so artists in Mexico City used resin instead to fake the lacquered look. Saying "resin imitating Asian lacquer" is the exam-accurate phrasing.

### How is tempera different from oil paint?

Tempera binds pigment with egg and dries fast into a matte surface, while oil paint binds with oil, dries slowly, and allows blending and glazing. On this screen, the resin coat adds the gloss that tempera alone can't produce.

### Why does a Mexican screen show up in Unit 8 about Asian art?

Because its materials and format come from Asia. The biombo derives from Japanese byōbu folding screens carried to New Spain on Manila Galleon trade ships, making it a textbook example of Asian techniques affecting art making elsewhere (learning objective 8.1.A).

### Has tempera and resin appeared on a real AP Art History exam?

Yes. The 2024 Long Essay Question 1 used the Screen with the Siege of Belgrade and Hunting Scene as a stimulus image, which means analyzing its medium and trade context was directly worth points.

## Related Study Guides

- [8.1 Materials, Processes, and Techniques in South, East, and Southeast Asian Art](/ap-art-history/unit-8/materials-techniques-south-east-southeast-asian-art/study-guide/e3TyfVGfEUaKlxuZmXIT)

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